The Saudi Health Ministry today announced that passengers who have visited any of the five listed Asian countries affected by SARS would be barred from entering the Kingdom, as a precautionary measure to protect the Saudi people from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
In a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the Ministry expressed its keenness to implement precautionary measures to prevent the disease from reaching the Kingdom. Thus, all international airlines have been notified that they must not transport any passenger coming to the Kingdom from countries affected by SARS via a third country, unless that passenger has remained for a period exceeding ten days in that third country.
The statement reiterated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has had no cases of the disease. Earlier this month, Riyadh barred the entry of passengers coming from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Vietnam, as a precautionary measure.
Source: SPA
