Covid-19: Saudi Arabia bans flights from India, exempts Pakistan

KARACHI: The Saudi Arabia has lifted ban on international flights coming from Pakistan after success in controlling coronavirus outbreak, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

In a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen), the Saudi Arabia government has banned all flights coming from India, Brazil and Argentine over their failure to control COVID-19 outbreak.

“We cannot risk lives of our citizens by allowing flights from India, Brazil and Argentine”, the NOTAM read. Meanwhile, the Kingdom has lifted travel restrictions from Pakistan after it managed to contain spread of coronavirus in the country.

On September 13, The Kingdom had decided to lift travel restriction in the kingdom from 01 January 2021, imposed earlier owing to COVID-19 pandemic.

According to local media reports, the kingdom’s interior ministry had announced that airports, ports, and border routes would be made operational from January 01.

Saudi citizens would be able to freely move in and out of the kingdom while citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council states.

It is pertinent to mention here that the move was announced days after Saudi Arabia had extended a ban on the arrival of foreign airlines within the kingdom amid COVID-19 pandemic on August 29.