Saudi Arabia bans travel to India, 15 other countries over Covid outbreaks

Saudi Arabia has banned its citizens from traveling to sixteen countries, including India following the re-outbreak of Covid-19 and the rapid surge in the number of daily Covid infections over the past few weeks.

The sixteen countries where the citizens of Saudi Arabia are banned to travel apart from India include Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, and Venezuela, reports the NDTV citing the Gulf News. 

Further, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health has assured the public that zero monkeypox cases have been detected in the country.

Abdullah Asiri, Deputy Minister of Health for preventive health has said that the Kingdom has the capability to monitor and discover any suspected monkeypox cases and also to fight against the infection if any new case emerges.

"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.