Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has temporarily banned the entry of foreigners travelling from 20 countries. The ban will come into effect from 9 p.m. local time on February 3.
The decision was taken to contain the spread of coronavirus in the Kingdom. The countries are
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Egypt
- France
- Germany
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Lebanon
- Pakistan
- Portugal
- South Africa
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- The United Arab Emirates
- The United Kingdom
- The United States of America
- Turkey
As per the Saudi Press Agency, the ban is applicable on non-citizens, diplomats, health practitioners and their families.
The Ministry of Interior said that the entry ban is also imposed on all the persons who have travelled to these 20 countries 14 days preceding the implementation of the ban.
Vaccination in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia started a vaccination programme for the novel coronavirus on December 17, 2020.
The three-stage vaccination process covers citizens and residents in the country who wish to receive it.
Earlier, it was announced that three million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech will arrive in the Kingdom by the end of May 2021. Pfizer will deliver one million doses of the vaccine by the end of February 2021.
Coronavirus cases in the Kingdom
Meanwhile, the Kingdom reported 310 new Covid-19 cases and four deaths on Tuesday.
Out of the total new cases, 131 were recorded in Riyadh, 61 in the Eastern Province, 38 in Makkah, 16 in Madinah, 13 in Al Bahah, 13 in Northern Border, nine in Al Jouf, eight in Asir, seven in Najran, four in Hail and three in Jazan.
The cumulative tally of cases mounted to 368,639 while the death toll increased to 6,383.
As more 271 people recovered from the virus, the cumulative recoveries reached 360,110.