The President of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, Saudi Arabia dismantled the barricades around the Kaaba on Tuesday, just in time for the Umrah season, according to a statement from Dr. Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz al-Sudais.

As part of the Kingdom’s precautionary precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the barriers had been set up.

Al-Sudais claimed that the leadership’s choice to take down the security measures was motivated by a desire to aid pilgrims on their way to God and to give them the safest possible spiritual environment.

“The presidency is working with all sectors operating at the Grand Mosque to welcome pilgrims and to provide them with all services based on the leadership’s aspirations,” al-Sudais said in the statement.

The Umrah season started on July 30 and comes at a time when Saudi Arabia eased measures previously taken to face the coronavirus pandemic.

In March, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah set new rules for visiting the Two Holy Mosques after the Kingdom dropped many preventative measures. Among those measures, worshippers who want to perform Umrah and who come from abroad are no longer required to register their immunization information to attain a permit.

Over the years, Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on making one of the world’s biggest religious gatherings more secure.

An economic reform plan by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to increase Umrah and Hajj capacity to 30 million pilgrims annually and to generate $13.32 billion (50 billion riyals) in revenue by 2030.