World
Saudi Arabia suspends travel from Pakistan, India amid rising coronavirus cases
Saudi Arabia has suspended entry to the Kingdom from several countries including Pakistan and India to help curb the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus.
According to details, Saudi Arabia has banned travel from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Philippine and Indonesia and a notification in this regard has also been issued by the Saudi Civil Aviation.
The residents of banned countries will be allowed to depart to their respective homelands; however, all Saudi residents in those countries have been given a deadline of 72 hours to return back. Moreover, those holding Saudi Aqama have also been directed to return within a time span of 72 hours.
۔ In addition to passengers, cargo and paramedical staff will be allowed to enter Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom has also temporarily barred its citizens from entering Pakistan. As per notification, flights from countries with travel restrictions will not be allowed to land in Saudi Arabia.
The travel ban has been imposed in wake of the ongoing coronavirus situation in the country. Saudi Arabia has so far reported more than 410,000 cases with 6,878 deaths.
A day earlier, Canada temporarily imposed a 30-day ban on all commercial and private flights from India and Pakistan to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Canadian Ministers of health, immigration, transport, public safety, and intergovernmental affairs announced the news in a joint press conference Thursday evening as the government faces pressure to contain the spread of novel coronavirus.
The ban is a part of stricter measures to combat coronavirus as Pakistan and India continue to report surge in Covid-19 cases.
The ban came into effect at 11:30 Thursday. However, it does not affect cargo flights in both regions.
Transport Minister of Canada Omar Alghabra said that the country is imposing the temporary ban as more passengers in Canada arrived with positive test results from these two countries.
Following the joint press conference the Health Minister Patty Hajdu said, “The temporary ban will allow Canada’s public health experts to collect more data about the epidemiology in those regions”.
Meanwhile, Canada does not have any direct flights from Brazil where cases are also surging.
۔