Saudi Arabia suspended flights from seven southern African countries last week. (Representative)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
Saudi Arabia has recorded the Gulf’s first confirmed case of the Omicron version of the coronavirus in a citizen returning from North Africa, a health ministry official said on Wednesday.
The strain, which was first announced by South Africa but has since been revealed to have previously been present in Europe, has prompted governments around the world to reimpose travel restrictions, the World Health Organization has warned. Yet it can do more harm than good.
“One case of the Omicron variant has been detected in the state – it was a citizen from a North African country,” the ministry official told the state SPA news agency.
“They have been kept in isolation, as have their contacts, and necessary health measures have been taken.”
Saudi Arabia last week halted flights from seven southern African countries, reflecting similar moves by other governments, but travel ties with North Africa have remained unaffected.
The state was lifting some of the remaining restrictions imposed at the start of the pandemic, allowing worshipers at Muslim holy places to pray side by side from October.
Since the pandemic began, Saudi Arabia has recorded 549,000 cases of Covid-19, of which 8,836 are fatal.
More than 47 million doses of the COVID vaccine have been given in the state with a population of about 35 million.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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