Saudi Arabia reopens all sea, land, air borders

By Mohammad Farid, Mahmoud Abdullah and Ali Semerci

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AA) – Saudi Arabia on Sunday reopened all sea, land, and air borders, which were closed on Dec. 20, 2020 due to a new variant of the coronavirus.

According to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the country’s borders, which were temporarily closed as part of measures against the mutated COVID-19 virus, were reopened as of Sunday.

Those who want to come to the Kingdom from the UK and South African Republic and don’t possess Saudi citizenship will be required to spend at least 14 days in a country where the mutated virus is yet not seen, the news agency said.

Saudi citizens, who were allowed to enter the country for humanitarian or other obligatory reasons, will be subjected to a 14-day quarantine at their homes and asked to have a PCR test on the sixth day of their arrival.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed nearly 1.83 million lives in 191 countries and regions since December 2019.

Over 84.6 million cases have been reported worldwide, including more than 47.42 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US Johns Hopkins University.

The US, India, and Brazil remain the worst-hit countries in terms of infections.

* Writing by Ahmet Gencturk