Saudi Arabia to lift entry ban related to new coronavirus variant on Sunday

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior announced that it was planning to lift all restrictions on the entry and exit of citizens by means of land, sea, and air transport on January 3. The move was aimed at relaxing the sweeping COVID-19 precautionary procedures in place to stem the spread of the new UK and South Africa variant. The Saudi government is now set to scrap the coronavirus-related travel ban that it announced on December 21. The reopening of the borders and resuming international air travel dates are yet to be announced officially, according to sources of Saudi Press Agency (SPA). The country is now issuing visas following temporary suspension due to the pandemic as it plans to de-escalate the preventative measures. 

According to a statement by Saudi’s interior ministry, effective January 2021, the civil servants, businessmen, those in dire need of medical treatment abroad, students, and essential workers will be exempted from all kinds of COVID-19 bans imposed in the country. Citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council states will now be allowed to enter and exit the country, effective September 15, 2021, followed by the decision to resume Umrah, a pre-pilgrimage ritual, which the government now plans to resume for overseas travellers. State press SPA, citing an official source at the ministry, reported that the kingdom will make a series of relaxation announcements shortly. 

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Opening all ports

In a statement carried by SPA, Saudi Arabia’s ministry of interior reportedly said that the dates for halting the pandemic related restrictions on the citizens traveling to and from the Kingdom and the decision of opening of all the ports across all means of transportation within the nation will be announced soon by the ministry in a conference. The country’s nationals and expatriates had remained exempted from the bans imposed to curb the newer variants of the SARS-CoV-2 strain.

However, in recent relaxation, the kingdom urged that the travellers coming from high-risk nations such as the UK, South Africa and any other country with cases of the new variant will have to stay at least 14 days out of these countries, elsewhere, before entering Saudi Arabia.

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