Riyadh suspends arrivals from 20 nations over COVID-19

RIYADH

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday indefinitely suspended arrivals from 20 countries as a precautionary measure to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Saudi citizens, diplomats, health practitioners and their families, however, are exempted, according to the official Saudi Press Agency, citing an unnamed source from the Interior Ministry.

It added that the decision will take effect from 9 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) on Wednesday.

The enlisted countries are Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the US, Indonesia, Italy, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Sweden, France, Lebanon, Egypt, India, Japan, Ireland, Brazil, Portugal, Switzerland and South Africa.

The Arab country registered 310 new COVID-19 cases and four related deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total to 368,639 cases and 6,383 fatalities.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat