Saudi Arabia lifts temporary travel ban on int'l flights, land and sea entry

After a two-week ban in order to restrain the spread of the new mutated coronavirus, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has lifted the temporary travel ban and is to resume entry and exit via air, water and land starting Sunday. An official statement of the Ministry of Interior in this regard was reported in the state news agency- Saudi Press Agency (SPA ) on Sunday.

The lifting decision became effective from 11 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Interior Ministry.

The statement said that travel recommencing will be subject to some restrictions such as travellers coming from countries where the new variant spread such as the UK, South Africa and any others, are to stay at least 14 days out of these countries prior to entering the kingdom.

Saudi citizens who are permitted entry for humanitarian and essential cases, coming from those countries where the new Covid-19 variant spread, are required to be in home quarantine for 14 days for observation.

Meanwhile, travellers from other countries where the mutated virus has not been detected yet, are to follow the current precautionary procedures such as 7-days mandatory home quarantine as a maximum or 3-days at least and a mandatory PCR covid test.

The Ministry of Health recorded the lowest number of cases in nine months in the Kingdom on Saturday with only 101 cases and zero cases in two regions, and has witnessed a fall in the number of cases related to the pandemic.

Saudi Arabia discovered its first Covid-19 case in February 2020.

After nearly a year of efforts to curb the spread of the virus, the number of daily cases in the Kingdom is now reduced to fewer than 200.