Saudi Suspends UAE Flights Due To Virus Variant
The move comes seven weeks after the oil-rich kingdom permitted fully immunised citizens to travel abroad, after a ban on foreign trips that lasted more than a year.
Saudi Arabia has suspended flights to three countries, including the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, to protect against a coronavirus variant, the interior ministry said Saturday.
The move comes seven weeks after the oil-rich kingdom permitted fully immunised citizens to travel abroad, after a ban on foreign trips that lasted more than a year.
The UAE, and especially Dubai, is a key leisure destination for Saudis.
Flights to and from the UAE, alongside those to Ethiopia and Vietnam, will be suspended from Sunday, an interior ministry official said, quoted by the state news agency SPA.
Saudi citizens and residents returning from these countries will be required to quarantine for 14 days, it added.
Citizens would be banned "from travelling directly or indirectly, without obtaining prior permission from... authorities".
The decision was taken due to "the spread of a new mutated strain of the (Covid-19) virus", it added, without explicitly mentioning the increasingly globally emergent Delta variant.
The variant, first detected in India and now present in at least 85 countries, is the most contagious of any Covid-19 variant yet identified.
The UAE announced last week it had recorded cases of the Delta variant and it has suspended flights to and from India.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has put major limits on the annual hajj pilgrimage. It has officially recorded more than 490,000 cases of coronavirus, including nearly 7,850 deaths.
The oil-rich Gulf state is home to a large expat workforce from Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
The move comes seven weeks after the oil-rich kingdom permitted fully immunised citizens to travel abroad, after a ban on foreign trips that lasted more than a year.
The UAE, and especially Dubai, is a key leisure destination for Saudis.
Flights to and from the UAE, alongside those to Ethiopia and Vietnam, will be suspended from Sunday, an interior ministry official said, quoted by the state news agency SPA.
Saudi citizens and residents returning from these countries will be required to quarantine for 14 days, it added.
Citizens would be banned "from travelling directly or indirectly, without obtaining prior permission from... authorities".
The decision was taken due to "the spread of a new mutated strain of the (Covid-19) virus", it added, without explicitly mentioning the increasingly globally emergent Delta variant.
The variant, first detected in India and now present in at least 85 countries, is the most contagious of any Covid-19 variant yet identified.
The UAE announced last week it had recorded cases of the Delta variant and it has suspended flights to and from India.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has put major limits on the annual hajj pilgrimage. It has officially recorded more than 490,000 cases of coronavirus, including nearly 7,850 deaths.
The oil-rich Gulf state is home to a large expat workforce from Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
