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RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has suspended entry to the kingdom from 20 countries including Pakistan as part of measures to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Saudi Arabia will temporarily suspend entry to the Kingdom for those coming from or transiting from 20 countries, starting at 9 pm local time on February 3, with the exception of diplomats, Saudi citizens, medical practitioners and their families, according to the Saudi Ministry of Interior.
“The Ministry of Interior announced that a temporary suspension for entry to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been enforced on non-citizens, diplomats, health practitioners and their families,” the Saudi state news agency said in a statement.
The ban applies to neighbouring Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, and in the wider region, to Lebanon and Turkey. In Europe, the ban includes Britain, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. Elsewhere, as well as the US, it applies to Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan and South Africa.
The temporary travel ban into the Kingdom will also include those travelers coming from other countries if they passed through any of the 20 banned countries 14 days preceding the implementation of the ban, the interior ministry added.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Tuesday night that Saudi authorities had once again banned arrival of passengers from Pakistan in the wake of a new wave of coronavirus.
PIA was operating fligthts as usual from Sialkot to Dammam, Multan to Madinah and Islamabad to Riyadh before the ban. The spokesman said two PIA flights from Karachi to Jeddah and Lahore to Madina were currently in operation. The national carrier would continue flights to bring back passengers from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia has reported more than 368,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 6,400 deaths, the highest among Gulf Arab states. Last Friday, Saudi Arabia said it will be extending the travel ban for its citizens and will reopen its air, land, sea on May 17, instead of March 31, as a coronavirus countermeasure.
