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Saudi passengers arrive to King Khaled International airport in the capital Riyadh Image Credit: AP

Riyadh – Saudi Arabia has announced on Thursday that it will allow direct entry from six countries including Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Egypt, Brazil and Vietnam without spending 14-day quarantine in a third country.

The new directive will come into effect from December 1, 2021, the Saudi Press Agency, reported, citing an official source from the Ministry of Interior, KSA.

Passengers who come from these countries are required to spend five days in institutional quarantine, regardless of their immunisation status outside the Kingdom, the ministry said in a statement.

The source stressed the importance of adhering to the application of all precautionary and preventive measures adopted.

The ministry said that the decision was an update to a previous announcement regarding the temporary suspension of direct entry from some countries to the Kingdom, in an effort to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.

The decision was also made after “continuous evaluation by the Kingdom's competent health authorities, according to the developments in the epidemiological situation globally,” according to the the ministry statement .