Cairo: Saudi citizens, infected with COVID-19, were evacuated from Indonesia after their health had deteriorated there, the kingdom’s embassy in Jakarta has said.
They were repatriated aboard a Saudi medical evacuation plane, the embassy added on Twitter without specifying their number.
The embassy urged Saudi citizens in Indonesia to quickly return to the kingdom in compliance with earlier directives made by the Saudi Interior Ministry.
Earlier this month, Saudi authorities banned direct and indirect travel of Saudis to Indonesia amid COVID-19 concerns and the spread of a new mutated strain there. The ban persists until the epidemiological situation becomes stable.
“The ban comes out of keenness of the kingdom’s government to protect its citizens’ safety,” Saudi Ambassador in Indonesia Essam Al Thaqafi told Saudi newspaper Okaz last week.
He added that eight Saudis had got infected with COVID-19 while visiting or staying in Indonesia.
