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RIAZ, (MANEND NEWS): Coronavirus outbreak across the world, Saudi Arabia will
impose a three-year travel ban on citizens travelling to countries on the kingdom’s
‘red list’ to curb the spread of coronavirus and its new variants.
According to state media report it cited an unnamed interior ministry official as
saying some Saudi citizens, who in May were allowed to travel abroad without prior
permission from authorities for the first time since March 2020, had violated travel
regulations.
“Anyone who is proven to be involved will be subject to legal accountability and
heavy penalties upon their return, and will be banned from travel for three years,”
the official said.
Saudi Arabia has banned travel to or transit at a number of countries including
Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan,
South Africa, Turkey, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates.
“The Ministry of Interior stresses that citizens are still banned from travelling
directly or via another country to these states or any other that has yet to control
the pandemic or where the new strains have spread,” the official said.
The kingdom, the largest Gulf state with a population of some 30 million, on
Tuesday recorded 1,379 new COVID-19 infections, bringing its total to 520,774
cases and 8,189 deaths.
It saw daily infections fall from a peak above 4,000 in June 2020 to below the 100
mark in early January.