Saudis leaving the Kingdom after March 31 will not require a COVID-19 vaccine to travel, a Saudi Health Ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
“There is no condition that states one must be vaccinated to travel. Studies for this are still ongoing. This matter is related to the Kingdom. Other countries might be applying this, but there is no condition in the Kingdom so far,” said Dr. Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly.
The Health Passport is a unique service issued by the Health Ministry’s “Twakkalna” application in cooperation with the Saudi Authority for Data and Artificial Intelligence and other entities. It is important that recipients of the vaccine have their appointments documented.
The ministry recorded 110 new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, raising the total number of infections to 363,692.
The Riyadh region recorded the highest case count with 40 cases, while Makkah reported 31, and the Eastern Province and Madinah region saw 12 cases each. Hail, the Northern Border region and Al-Jouf recorded zero cases.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia announced 4 deaths from Covid-19 and 110 new infections on Saturday.
Of the new cases, 40 were recorded in Riyadh, 31 in Makkah, 12 in the Eastern Province, 12 in Madinah, 3 in Asir, 3 in Jazan and 2 in Najran.
The total number of recoveries in the Kingdom increased to 355,382 after 174 more patients recovered from the virus.
A total of 6,286 people have succumbed to the virus in the Kingdom so far.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman received the first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine in Neom, Saudi Press Agency had reported.
Minister of Health, Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, thanked the king, “who provided all types of support in the interest of citizens and residents since from the beginning of the pandemic until this day.”
Al-Rabiah added: “Today, the king received the vaccine in order to prevent him from receiving the virus, and this initiative affirms the Kingdom’s policy is always prevention before treatment.”
Saudi Arabia had announced that it will lift the temporary travel ban and resume all international flights on Friday. The move, which will come into force on March 31, 2021.
Saudi Arabia launched its coronavirus vaccination campaign on December 17 after receiving the first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The health ministry said the programme would roll out in three phases, starting with people over 65 and those with chronic ailments or at high risk of infection.
People over 50 would be vaccinated next, with everyone else included in the third stage, the ministry said, adding that the vaccine would be free for citizens and residents.
