Saudi Arabia free from travel restrictions for UAE travellers

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia issued a notification lifting the travelling ban imposed on travellers to and from the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and South Africa, effectively from September 8. The travels restrictions were imposed to further curb the spread of COVID-19, amid a surge in cases of the delta variant of the coronavirus.

From 11 am on Wednesday morning, Saudi Arabia will allow people to travel to these three nations that have been on its red list.

An official source at the ministry of interior said that it had decided to lift the suspension of entry to the Kingdom from these countries through the land, sea and airports and that Saudi citizens will also be allowed to travel to these countries.

As per the source, the ban has been lifted in light of changes in the epidemiological situation both locally and globally and based on submissions by the relevant health authorities.

A ministry spokesman said the situation was being constantly evaluated, and stressed the importance of adhering to all precautionary and preventive measures to halt the spread of COVID-19.

As per a report by Arab News, the Kingdom reported 138 new cases of the disease on Tuesday, raising the total to 545,505, and six more people died from COVID-19, bringing the total to 8,591 since the pandemic reached the Kingdom at the beginning of 2020.

Testing hubs and treatment centres set up throughout the country have dealt with hundreds of thousands of people.

In addition, the Kingdom's vaccination campaign continues to gather pace. A total of 38,455,901 people in the country have so far been inoculated against COVID-19, including 1,609,631 who are classified as elderly.

More than 63 per cent of the population have received the first dose, and just over 45 per cent have received both doses. At the current rate of vaccination, 70 per cent of the population is expected to have completed both doses by the beginning of November.