Riyadh, The Indonesia Post – There was excitement but no crowds on Monday morning at Riyadh’s international airport, when Saudi Arabia lifted a ban on its nationals traveling outside the Gulf state without prior permission from the authorities.
Saudi nationals who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot at least two weeks before traveling will be allowed to travel for the first time since March 2020.
The same permission is given to those who have recovered from the coronavirus disease in the past six months, and those under the age of 18.
“It’s a great feeling, thank God, we are happy, especially after the difficult times we and the whole world are suffering,” said Bandar Al Nawash, a passenger who was in the departure lounge of King Khalid International Airport.
Faisal Al Tamimi, also a Saudi national, said he previously thought there would be a lot of people at the airport, but it turned out that there were only a few travelers on Monday morning after the suspension was lifted at 1 a.m. local time.
“In my opinion, people are worried about the variants of the corona virus, such as the one in India, and new developments in several countries,” said Al Tamimi.
There are 13 countries that are still prohibited from visiting citizens of Saudi Arabia without prior permission, either via direct or indirect flights because of the risk of COVID-19.
Saudi Arabia, with a population of around 30 million people, reported 825 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases to 433,094, including 7,162 deaths.
Authorities said on Sunday more than 11.5 million vaccines had been administered in the Gulf Arab state so far.
“Alhamdulillah… today we can travel either for tourism or for business. God willing, this pandemic will be over and everyone can travel, ”said Jaber Al Mahadi, another traveler at the airport, Monday morning. (jek/bbs)
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