Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia’s Public Health Authority (Weqaya) classified 69 countries around the world at a “very high risk” level, according to its travel alerts for the global epidemiological situation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Weqaya advised residents in Saudi Arabia not to travel to these countries, which include 11 Arab countries: Bahrain, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, and Libya.
It updates alerts every two weeks based on the epidemiological assessment of countries.
The Ministry of Interior earlier alerted citizens not to travel to Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Somalia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Belarus and India without obtaining permission from the authorities.
The list of countries classified as “very high risk” and marked in red on the site’s world map includes Argentina, Armenia, Afghanistan, Uruguay, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ecuador, Bahrain, Syrian, Senegal, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Philippines, Congo and India.
Japan, Indonesia, Uganda, Ukraine, Iran, Pakistan, Brazil, Paraguay, Bangladesh, Panama, Botswana, Burundi, Bolivia, Peru, Belarus,Tajikistan, Tanzania,Turkey, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, Tunisia, Maldive Islands, and Yemen are also ranked as very high risk countries.
Also on the very high risk countries list are Egypt, South Sudan, Guatemala, Guyana, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Saint Vincent, Saint Kitts, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Seychelles, Palestine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Costa Rica, Colombia, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Haiti and Honduras.
