Saudi Arabia Bans Kenyans From Visiting As Coronavirus Spreads

Kenya is among countries that are now banned from visiting Saudi Arabia in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak that has been reported in half the globe.

Other countries banned from going into Saudi Arabia are:

Sudan

South Sudan

Djibouti

Eritrea

Ethiopia

Somalia

Switzerland

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

India

United Arab Emirates

Kuwait

Bahrain

Lebanon

Syria

South Korea

Egypt

Italy

Iraq

Philippines

Citizens of Saudi Arabia are also banned from visiting the countries which the government of Saudi Arabia has banned.

All Saudi Arabian citizens are advised to return to their kingdom before the window period of 72 hours elapses.

Kenyans are currently in large numbers in Saudi Arabia where they travel in search of employment.

No case of coronavirus has been officially confirmed in Kenya yet though Saudi Arabia has reported 45 cases as of 12th March 2020.

The majority of the coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia came from an oil-producing region in the Kingdom, Qatif.

Saudi Arabia suspended the Umrah Pilgrimage when it reported the first 24 cases and ordered the closure of schools in its efforts to combat the deadly virus.

The World Health Organization has termed the COVID-19 outbreak as a ‘global pandemic.

“We are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press briefing.

“Activate and scale up emergency response mechanisms and speak to your people about the risks and how to protect themselves, find, isolate, test and treat every COVID-19 case and ensure to follow up every contact,” Dr. Tedros said.

In Africa the following countries have confirmed having coronavirus cases within their borders:

1. Algeria
2. Senegal
3. Egypt
4. Morocco
5. Tunisia
6. Nigeria
7. Togo
8. South Africa
9. Cameroon

Coronavirus has so far been confirmed in 118 countries around the Globe with more than 121,000 confirmed infections and over 4,300 deaths.

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