COVID-19: Saudi Arabia licenses quarantine facilities for overseas workers
Criteria set for selection including location, ventilation, hygiene, safety standards
Cairo: The Saudi government has said it started licensing private institutional quarantine facilities for hosting foreign workers who arrive in the kingdom without having been vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Ministry of Municipal and Village Affairs said the move is part of Saudi efforts to limit the spread of the pandemic in the kingdom. The ministry has specified criteria for approving the new health hostels based on the location, the building specifications, bathrooms, lighting and ventilation systems, available amenities, security guards, safety and hygiene standards and accessibility to a reservation website.
Twenty-five sites in the cities of Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Dhahran were the focus of qualification applications, according to the ministry. Ten of them have been approved to operate as institutional quarantine facilities, it added.
The kingdom initiated a mass vaccination campaign in December. Over 45 million doses have since been administered, according to the Saudi Health Ministry.
As of October 10, full vaccination has become mandatory for using public transport, domestic flights and attending economic, commercial, academic, cultural, entertainment, sports or tourism events in Saudi Arabia.
The full inoculation is also compulsory for entering government or private sector institutions.