Riyadh: Saudi Arabia has extended the travel ban for its citizens and delayed the reopening of the Kingdom’s air, land and sea borders completely till May 17. Earlier, the Ministry of Interior had planned to reopen Kingdom’s border on March 31.
The decision was taken due to the spread of second wave of Covid-19 around the world, Gulf News reported.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health said that the delay in deliveries of the Covid-19 vaccine is another reason for the decision.
The Ministry also said that it is important to inoculate maximum people against the virus before lifting the travel restrictions.
Saudi Arabia had first decided to suspend the international flights in December after the spread of a new strain of coronavirus in some countries.
Vaccination in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia started a vaccination programme for the novel coronavirus on December 17, 2020.
The three-stage vaccination process covers citizens and residents in the country who wish to receive it.
Earlier, it was announced that three million doses of the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech will arrive in the Kingdom by the end of May 2021. Pfizer will deliver one million doses of the vaccine by the end of February 2021.
Coronavirus cases in the Kingdom
Meanwhile, the Kingdom reported 267 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths on Friday.
Out of the total new cases, 89 were recorded in Riyadh, 70 in the Eastern Province, 49 in Makkah, 12 in Asir, six in Madinah, five in Najran, and three in Jazan, Arab New reported.
The cumulative tally of cases mounted to 367,543 while the death toll increased to 6,368.
As 253 more people recovered from the virus, the cumulative recoveries reached 359,006.