Saudi Arabia halts international flights over fast-spreading new strain of coronavirus

Riyadh:

Saudi Arabia halted international flights on Sunday and suspended entry through its land and sea ports for at least a week, after a new, rapidly spreading strain of coronavirus emerged in Britain.

The kingdom is “temporarily suspending all international flights, except in exceptional cases, for a period of one week, which may be extended for another week,” the official Saudi press agency said.

“Entry to the kingdom through land and sea ports will also be suspended for a week, which can be extended for another week,” SPA added, citing the Interior Ministry.

The suspension does not apply to international aircraft currently in the kingdom, which will be allowed to depart, SPA said.

The development comes after several European countries banned travel from Britain on Sunday, when the UK government warned that a highly infectious new strain of the virus was “out of control.”

SPA said that passengers who arrived in Saudi Arabia from Europe, or any country where the new strain was detected, starting December 8 will need to self-isolate for two weeks and undergo tests.

Neighboring Kuwait also announced a ban on passenger flights from Britain on Sunday because of the new strain of the virus.

Alarm bells are ringing across Europe, which last week became the first region in the world to exceed 500,000 deaths from Covid-19, after it appeared that a more infectious strain of the virus was sweeping parts of Britain. .

Last week, Saudi Arabia launched a three-phase Covid-19 vaccination program, after the first shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reached the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has so far recorded more than 361,000 new coronavirus cases, including more than 6,000 deaths, the highest among the Persian Gulf states. But the kingdom has also reported a high recovery rate.

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