Institutional quarantine: Saudi Arabia updates entry rules for Covid-positive passengers

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has updated its entry rules for Covid-positive passengers who will now need to go into institutional quarantine for a period of 10-14 days according to the state of their recovery instead of being hospitalised.

The updated guidelines issued by the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) stated that the Saudi government requires institutional quarantine for those who test positive on arrival and that all travellers must, also, obtain medical insurance to cover their COVID-19 treatment.

The air carriers have been directed to make the announcement on their websites regarding the institutional quarantine of the Covid-positive passengers in Saudi Arabia, Gulf News reported.

The order read that domestic workers accompanying diplomats and their families in Saudi Arabia will be exempt from institutional quarantine.

Those holding diplomatic visas, their families and their domestic workers need to adhere to quarantine procedures at their homes in accordance with regulations approved by the Ministry of Health.

It added that a fine of 200,000 Saudi riyals or imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or both will be imposed on violators of isolation instructions or quarantine. The penalty shall be doubled in case of a repeated violation.

Non-Saudi violators will be deported from the Kingdom and banned from entering indefinitely after completing their sentences.

It has been declared mandatory for the passengers who have planned to visit Saudi Arabia to secure medical insurance for covering the COVID-19 treatment except for the Saudi residents or GCC citizens who will be excluded from obtaining the medical insurance.

The medical insurance should cover the costs of treatment in outpatient clinics and hospitals, including institutional quarantine for a period of up to 14 days.

Passengers who do not meet the requirements shall be sent back to the destination from where they had departed, and the air carrier shall bear the costs.

Regarding the vaccinated passengers upon their arrival, Saudi Arabian authorities will require proof of vaccination with one of the flowing vaccines – two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, two doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca, two doses of Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson’s.

Vaccine certificates are required to be attested by official health authorities from the country that provided the vaccination for incoming passengers, and the duration between receiving the last dose (the second dose of a two-dose vaccine or the first dose of a single-dose vaccine) should not be less than 14 days before travelling to Saudi Arabia.

Vaccine certificates may be verified upon arrival at the checkpoints.

Travellers must carry their certificates at all times during their stay in the Kingdom (or proof of health status through applications and accredited programmes in the Kingdom).

The travellers will be subjected to legal liabilities in addition to being banned from entry into Saudi Arabia over failure to comply with the regulations.