Saudi Arabia suspends flights from 20 nations

Saudi Arabia has suspended flights from 20 nations, including India and the United States, in a bid to curb the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country from Wednesday. According to the Saudi Arabia interior ministry apart from India, the temporary suspension of flights applies to Pakistan, United States, Brazil, Japan and several other nations. The list of nations also includes Britain, Italy, Portugal, France, Sweden, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.

The state news agency of Saudi has however said that an exception will be made for diplomats, Saudi citizens, medical practitioners and their families.  Saudi Arabia has reported 3,68,000 Covid-19 cases and 6,400 deaths so far. While the daily Covid-19 cases have dipped from 5,000 in June to 100 in January, on Tuesday, over 300 cases were reported, sending alarm among the authorities.Saudi Arabia has already started vaccinating its population with the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.