Saudi Arabia on Tuesday has announced that it would impose a three-year ban on citizens who travel to countries under the kingdom's 'red list,' state news agency SPA said.
To curb the spread of coronavirus, the kingdom also said that it would impose a vaccine mandate. On May 7, Saudi announced that all public and private sector workers wishing to attend a workplace would need to be vaccinated.
The kingdom so far has reported 518,143 cases of COVID-19 and 8,167 deaths.Â
In May, citizens were permitted to travel abroad without prior permission, for the first time since March 2020, but, several of them had violated travel regulations, an interior minister said.
"Anyone who is proven to be involved will be subject to legal accountability and heavy penalties upon their return, and will be banned from travel for three years," the official added.
"The Ministry of Interior stresses that citizens are still banned from travelling directly or via another country to these states or any other that have yet to control the pandemic or where the new strains have spread," the official said.
The countries under Saudi's red list include Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates.
On July 26, the Ministry of Health announced that at least 50 per cent of the kingdom's population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr Muhammad Abdel Ali, spokesman of the ministry of health said, that 20 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated. But, asked citizens to be vary of the Delta variant.
