Ramadan and Eid free from curfews in Saudi Arabia: Ministry of Health

Saudi Arabia will not impose curfew during the last days of Ramadan or Eid, a Ministry of Health (MoH) spokesman said, shutting off rumours of a nationwide lockdown.

"Rumors spread from time to time, and this is one of the circulating things nowadays, and they are not true," said Dr Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly, as quoted by Arab News. "The concerned and specialized committees are continuing to follow the situation closely, but no request has been sent to enforce curfews neither in Ramadan or Eid."

Al-Aly added that further restrictions or curfews could be prevented if the society abides by the Covid precautionary measures such as mask-wearing in public, maintaining social distancing, avoiding large gatherings and adhering to the numbers allowed, especially during Eid.

While urging the public to get vaccinated, Al-Aly stated that more than half of the critical cases in the country were elderly citizens or residents, mostly over the age of 60.

Earlier, the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah increased the operational capacity of the Grand Mosque (Masjid-al-Haram) in Makkah to around 100,000 during the month of Ramadan. The authority also issues Umrah permits to those 150,000 people who recovered from the coronavirus or vaccinated with two jabs of COVID-19 vaccine or those who have received the first dose 14 days prior to applying for the permit. The permits are only issued through two approved applications, Eatmarna and Tawakkalna.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, MoH reported 1,048 new infections, 11 new covid-related deaths and 964 recoveries, making the total death toll to 6,968 and recoveries to 401,544. According to the latest stats, the Kingdom has administered covid jabs to around 9,123,778 people.