Saudi Arabia’s state news agency SPA reported that a three-year travel ban would be imposed on citizens of the country for traveling to countries included in the Red List.
Saudi Arabia to impose travel ban for traveling to countries included in the Red List
Saudi Arabia has said that it will impose a three-year travel ban on citizens traveling to countries on the Kingdom’s ‘Red List’ list. Giving this information on Tuesday, the Kingdom’s state news agency SPA said that such a decision was taken as part of efforts to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and its new variants.
The SPA quoted an unnamed official of the Interior Ministry as saying that some Saudi nationals have violated the travel rules. They were allowed to travel in May without taking permission from the authorities. This happened for the first time after March 2020. The official said that whoever is found breaking the rules, on their return, they will be punished under the law and heavy punishment will also be given. In addition, travel will be banned for three years.
India-Pakistan are included in Saudi Arabia’s red list
The official said that the Home Ministry insisted that citizens are still prohibited from traveling directly or through any other country to the countries included in the Red List or any other country. The epidemic has not yet been controlled in these countries or new variants are spreading here. Saudi Arabia has banned travel to and from many countries including Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates.
Corona infected more than five lakh people in the Kingdom
Saudi Arabia is the most populous country among the Gulf countries. The population of Saudi Arabia is about 30 million. On Tuesday, 1,379 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the Kingdom. In this way, the number of people getting infected in the country increased to 5,20,774. At the same time, 8,189 people have died due to corona so far. Corona was at its peak in Saudi Arabia in June 2020. During this time 4,000 cases were being reported every day, while in early January they reached below 100.
UAE bans incoming flights from four countries
Earlier, the United Arab Emirates, another country in the Gulf, also banned flights coming from four Asian countries including India, Pakistan. In line with the directives of the UAE government, the country’s flagship carrier Emirates has extended the suspension of flights from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to Dubai till July 28. Emirates said in a statement that any traveler who has been to these four Asian countries in the last 14 days will not be allowed to travel to the UAE from anywhere.
Also read: ‘Corona epidemic will end in UK in a few months’, claims country’s top epidemiologist Neil Ferguson
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