Riyadh: Saudi Arab Flights to three countries including neighboring countries have been suspended United Arab Emirates, to protect against a coronavirus variant, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.
The move comes seven weeks after allowing the oil-rich empire to be fully immunized citizens To travel abroad after a ban on foreign visits lasting more than one year.
The United Arab Emirates, and especially Dubai, is a major holiday destination for Saudis.
United Arab Emirates as well as Ethiopia and . flights to Vietnam, will be suspended from Sunday, an interior ministry official was quoted as saying by state news agency SPA.
It added that Saudi citizens and residents returning from these countries would be required to quarantine for 14 days.
Citizens “will be prohibited from traveling directly or indirectly” without obtaining prior permission from the authorities.
The decision was taken due to the “spread of a new mutated strain of the (Covid-19) virus”, it added without explicitly mentioning the rapidly emerging delta variant globally.
The variant, which was first detected in India and is now present in at least 85 countries, is the most infectious of any Covid-19 variant identified so far.
The UAE announced last week that it had registered cases of the Delta variant and had suspended flights to and from India.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has imposed huge limits on the annual Hajj pilgrimage. It has officially recorded more than 490,000 cases of coronavirus, including about 7,850 deaths.
The oil-rich Gulf state is home to a large expatriate workforce from Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The move comes seven weeks after allowing the oil-rich empire to be fully immunized citizens To travel abroad after a ban on foreign visits lasting more than one year.
The United Arab Emirates, and especially Dubai, is a major holiday destination for Saudis.
United Arab Emirates as well as Ethiopia and . flights to Vietnam, will be suspended from Sunday, an interior ministry official was quoted as saying by state news agency SPA.
It added that Saudi citizens and residents returning from these countries would be required to quarantine for 14 days.
Citizens “will be prohibited from traveling directly or indirectly” without obtaining prior permission from the authorities.
The decision was taken due to the “spread of a new mutated strain of the (Covid-19) virus”, it added without explicitly mentioning the rapidly emerging delta variant globally.
The variant, which was first detected in India and is now present in at least 85 countries, is the most infectious of any Covid-19 variant identified so far.
The UAE announced last week that it had registered cases of the Delta variant and had suspended flights to and from India.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has imposed huge limits on the annual Hajj pilgrimage. It has officially recorded more than 490,000 cases of coronavirus, including about 7,850 deaths.
The oil-rich Gulf state is home to a large expatriate workforce from Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
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