Saudi Interior Ministry suspends flights to and from 7 more countries

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's flag

Saudi Arabia announced today, Nov. 28, suspending flights from and to seven countries owing to concerns related to Omicron, the new COVID-19 strain, according to an official source in the Ministry of Interior.

The Kingdom suspended flights from and to Malawi, Zambia, Madagascar, Angola, Seychelles, Mauritius, and the Comoros until further notice.

He explained that the decision was based on the “continuous follow-up of the epidemiological situation locally and globally and what the Saudi competent health authorities raised about the emergence of a mutated strain of the coronavirus in several countries and monitoring the transmission of infections to other countries.”

In addition, the Kingdom suspended entry for non-Saudis, who come directly or indirectly from the aforementioned countries, except for those who spent a period of no less than 14 days in another country whose health procedures comply with Saudi Arabia’s rules regarding entry to the country in accordance with the approved health procedures.

The official source said that the institutional quarantine period of five days will be applied to all excluded groups of people from those countries, including the Kingdom’s citizens, regardless of immunization status.

The Ministry of Interior stressed that whoever entered the Kingdom from those previously announced countries, or passed through them after Nov. 1, is required to have a negative PCR test result taken following his arrival to the Kingdom.

All procedures and measures are subject to continuous assessment according to the developments in the epidemiological situation globally, the source highlighted.