Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar Announced Travel Restrictions

Amid the fear of the Delta variant of Coronavirus many gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar have extended the travel restrictions and announced new curbs.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has imposed a 3-year travel ban on citizens who traveling to countries on the kingdom’s ‘red list’ in order to curb the spread of coronavirus and its new variants.

Saudi Arabia has banned travel to or transit at a number of countries including Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey, Vietnam, and the United Arab Emirates.

Kuwait

Kuwait has become the latest GCC nation to tighten travel restrictions amid the fear of Covid-19. The country has imposed a ban on unvaccinated citizens from traveling abroad as of August 1.

The announcement comes just a few hours after Saudi Arabia announced a three-year travel ban on citizens who travel to countries on the red list.

However, Kuwait has exempted unvaccinated citizens children under 16 years and those with a health ministry certificate, saying they cannot be vaccinated, as well as pregnant women, who get a pregnancy proof certificate from authorities.

Oman

To contain the spread of COVID-19 variants, Oman has extended the nightly Covid-19 lockdown and also extends the travel restrictions from travelers from many countries.

The country has already suspended the entry of travelers from 23 countries until further notice.

The red-list countries include Sudan, Brazil, Nigeria, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Tunisia, Libya, Argentina, Colombia, and Brunei.

Not just that, passengers who passed through the above-mentioned countries in the past 14 days are banned from entering the Sultanate.

Bahrain

The Civil Aviation Affairs has updated travel regulations, expanding the number of Red List countries, and added 16 more countries to the list.

It must be noted that six Asian countries namely India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam are already on Bahrain’s travel “Red List”.

The red list countries include Dominican, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Panama, the Philippines, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

Moreover, passengers who passed through the banned countries need to have a 14-day quarantine in non-prohibited countries, except for Bahrain’s citizens and residents.

Qatar

As per the updated travel policy of Qatar, passengers who have been inoculated and approved by health authorities, will not be quarantined. However, the vaccinated passengers still need to take a PCR test before arriving in Qatar.

The new policy classifies countries into three categories — green, yellow, and red. A quarantine policy for each category will be applied to unvaccinated travelers arriving in Qatar.

All passengers coming to Qatar will also have to pre-register on the “Ehteraz” website and attach all the required documents no less than 12 hours before arrival.

Also Read: Philippines Extends Travel Restrictions For India, 9 Other Countries Till Aug 15