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Medical staff with protective clothing are seen inside a ward specialised in receiving any person who may have been infected with coronavirus, at the Rajiv Ghandhi Government General hospital in Chennai, India. Image Credit: Reuters
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Dubai: Saudi Arabia has suspended travel to China for both citizens and non-Saudi residents of the kingdom, state news agency SPA said on Thursday.

The General Directorate of Passports confirmed that, within the framework of implementing new regulations to prevent the Corona virus from entering the country, it was decided to suspend the travel of citizens and residents to China.

Adding that any citizen who break the ban would be held accountable, SPA said, while foreign residents would not be allowed back into the country if they travelled to China.

Earlier this week the General Directorate of Passports published in a statment that those already in China and coming to the Kingdom should disclose their travel dates to officials two weeks before their arrival date.

Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry on Monday said that 10 Saudi students who were evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan were “virus free”.

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Health, Tawfiq, Al Rabiah, on Sunday confirmed that the country has no cases of coronavirus so far.

“We have increased readiness to deal with any situation that is quickly discovered,” he said.