Beirut- Saudi Arabia has banned its citizens from travelling to 16 countries following the re-outbreak of COVID-19. These include Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus and Venezuela.

The ban comes following a steady increase in the number of daily COVID-19 infections over the past few weeks.

The total number Coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia reached 763,042 and the number of deaths:9,130, according to Worldometers. As of 15 May 2022, a total of 64,913,471 vaccine doses have been administered.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has ensured the public that it has not detected any cases of monkeypox in Saudi Arabia yet, Al Arabiya reported.

Dr. Abdullah Asiri, deputy minister of health for preventive health, said that the Kingdom’s health sector is capable of monitoring and discovering suspected cases of “monkeypox” and to combat infection.

He said: “There is a standard definition of suspected cases and the way to confirm them and monitoring and diagnosis methods are available in the laboratories of the Kingdom.”

“Until now, cases of transmission between humans are very limited, and therefore the possibility of any outbreaks occurring from it, even in countries that have detected cases, are very low,” he added.

The World Health Organization said about 80 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in 11 countries, warning that more cases are likely to be reported.

GN/YL