Saudi Arabia urges citizens to comply with restrictions as COVID-19 cases surge

Saudi Arabia's health minister, Tawfiq al-Rabiah, on Sunday, January 31, said that complacency around coronavirus restrictions had led to a surge in the cases. This comes after the kingdom recorded 270 new infections in just 24 hours. “We have observed in the past days a noticeable increase and a continuous rise in the number of infection with the Coronavirus, and among the most important causes of it were gatherings of all kinds, and if the complacency continues in gatherings and the failure to implement preventive measures, we will enter the danger of the second wave, God forbid”, the Minister wrote on his official Twitter handle. 

Travel ban extended 

This comes just a day after the kingdom extended its travel ban. Saudi’s Ministry of Interior took to its official Twitter handle and said that the amendment of the date of lifting the travel suspension for citizens and the opening of the land, sea and airports has been postponed. Earlier, the ministry said that the ban would end on travel for its citizens and would reopen its ports from March 31.

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During December end, Saudi Arabia extended the ban on all flights but just for one week. This travel ban was imposed due to the new strain of COVID-19 virus discovered in the United Kingdom, which will continue for seven more days. Saudi Arabia had banned all international flights as well as entry in the Kingdom through seaports for a week on December 21. 

Read: Saudi Arabia Extends COVID-19 Travel Ban Till May 17 As Precautionary Measure

Saudi Arabia had imposed a ban on all international flights after the discovery of the new strain of the COVID-19 virus in the UK. Several countries had gone for a more holistic approach as they only banned flights to and from the United Kingdom and also from a few other nations where the new variant of the virus had been found, including South Africa and Nigeria.

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(Image Credits: AP/Pixabay)