Saudi Arabia is closing its land borders and suspending international flights for one week following the invention of a new coronavirus strain in the UK, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reports citing an internal ministry source.
The source stated that the new ban could be extended for an extra week.
All individuals who have arrived in Saudi Arabia from European international locations, as well as different states the place the new coronavirus strain has emerged, will have to self-isolate at home for 2 weeks. Those that have visited these international locations in the past three months might want to get tested for Covid-19, in accordance with SPA.
In the meantime, the Turkish authorities stated that flights from the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, and South Africa have been being briefly suspended.
“It has been reported that the speed of transmission has increased within the UK with the mutation of the coronavirus. Under the instruction of our President and in coordination with our Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, a brief suspension has been issued for flights from England, Denmark, the Netherlands, and South Africa to our nation,” Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca stated on Twitter.
Special flights will be organized to deliver Turkish citizens again home amid the new ban.
“Within the scope of the measures taken on the mutation risk originating from England, all passengers shall be tested and quarantine rules shall be applied for flights still en route,” Koca stated on Twitter.
Morocco stated it was suspending air visitors with the UK starting from late Sunday. The duration of the ban was not announced, according to the MAP news agency.
On Saturday, UK health officers introduced that the nation had recognized a new variant of the coronavirus that is 70 % more transmissible than other Sars-Cov-2 virus strains.
The UK authorities practically locked down parts of the nation, together with London, after admitting that more than half of all new Covid-19 cases had been brought on by the new strain.
As UK citizens rushed out of the locked-down areas ahead of Christmas, many countries chose to shut borders with the whole of the UK in a bid to prevent the import of the new virus strain.
The new coronavirus variant, which infects more easily but doesn’t appear to be extra lethal or pose any concerns for vaccines, has also been detected within the Netherlands, Denmark, South Africa, and Australia.