Daijiworld Media Network – Riyadh (MS)

Riyadh, Jul 3: The ministry of interiors of the kingdom announced on Saturday July 3 that travel to and from UAE, Ethiopia and Vietnam, without prior approval is not allowed in the wake of the spread of more rapidly spreading variants of the Coronavirus.

The ministry also said that flights for these countries will be suspended at 11 pm on Sunday July 4. Passengers arriving into the kingdom after July 4 from the mentioned countries will have to undergo institutional quarantine regardless of whether he or she is a citizen of Saudi or an expatriate. The ban is placed on Afghanistan also.

The ban, however, does not apply to foreigners who have left the three countries 14 days prior to arriving in Saudi. The kingdom has permitted the Saudi nationals to travel to a limited number of countries from the kingdom since May 17, 2020 on the condition that the respective persons are vaccinated against Covid-19 or recovered from the infection. People who have received the first dose have to wait for 14 days before travelling abroad. The waiting time is six months for people who got infected by the coronavirus and recovered and got a negative report.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia had earlier said that the ban on international flights would be withdrawn on March 31 of this year. However, this was extended in order to get more people vaccinated.

According to the statistics announced by the health department, 1,338 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Saudi while the death toll was 16 on Friday July 2.