RIYADH: In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi Arabia temporarily suspended entry of people from 20 countries, including India, informed Indian Embassy in Riyadh on Thursday.
In a tweet, India in Saudi Arabia posted its advisory saying, “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia vide its circular dated 2nd February 2021 have temporarily suspended entry into the Kingdom for passengers coming from the following 19 countries, in addition to India.” The countries which have been included in the suspension are India, Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the United States of America, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Pakistan, Brazil, Portugal, United Kingdom, Turkey, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Lebanon, Egypt, and Japan.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Saudi Arabia has so far recorded over 371,356 COVID-19 cases and 6,415 deaths.
Twelve mosques in Saudi Arabia were temporarily shut after 15 worshippers tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and one died.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance intensified field inspections across the Kingdom, resulting in 32 mosques being shut over the past three days.
COVID-19 numbers continue to rise at a concerning rate, which has prompted authorities to close dine-in restaurants, cancel weddings and postpone other events.
Field inspections are targeting government and private establishments to enforce health and safety protocols set in place to curb the spread of the deadly disease.
Saudi Arabia announced five COVID-19 deaths and 369 new infections on Wednesday. Of the new cases, Riyadh recorded 173, followed by the Eastern Province (85), Makkah (48), Asir (11), Madinah (five), Jazan (four) and Najran (four).
There are 2,573 active cases in the Kingdom, including 417 that are in critical care units. The country’s new death toll from the disease stands at 6,415.
Over the last seven days, the number of new daily cases detected in the Middle East has risen slightly to an average of 25,114 per day, an increase of three percent compared to the previous week.
But the trend is clearly downwards in terms of deaths, with an average of 238 recorded per day, down 19 percent over the week.
Iran is the country in the region that has suffered most from the pandemic. It has 58,686 deaths from 1,488,981 recorded cases of Covid-19, ranking it 11th in the world in terms of fatalities.
Iraq follows far behind, with 13,140 deaths from 634,539 cases, then Saudi Arabia (6,415, 371,356) and Israel (5,233, 706,416).
In total, since the WHO office in China reported the outbreak of the disease at the end of December 2019, the pandemic has led to 2,353,534 deaths worldwide from 107,220,146 infections, as of Thursday at 0800 GMT.