Saudi Arabia is set to further ease its travel restrictions, updating entry procedures and reducing the length of its institutional quarantine to five days, following instructions issued by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) to all airlines operating in the kingdom.
Effective September 23, the institutional quarantine period for travellers entering the kingdom from unbanned countries will be reduced to five days for non-vaccinated individuals or those who’ve received only one dose of vaccines approved by Saudi Arabia.
Those who’ve taken the full dose of a coronavirus vaccine not approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, namely the Chinese-manufactured Sinopharm or Sinovac, or who’ve take only one shot of vaccines approved by the WHO but not by Saudi Arabia, also need to quarantine for five days.
Both groups need to submit a negative PCR test taken 72 hours before departure for Saudi Arabia and take two additional PCRs once in the kingdom: one within 24 hours from arriving and the second on the fifth day of the institutional quarantine. The quarantine ends with the second negative PCR result, taken in Saudi Arabia.
Dependents are allowed to enter with their immune relatives, with unvaccinated dependents under 18 years old subject to home quarantine procedures for five days and a PCR test on the fifth day. Dependants who are over 18 should follow institutional quarantine procedures, as per GACA guidelines.
Residents must take the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine in the kingdom after the end of the institutional quarantine, while those who have taken the Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccine should receive a booster dose from one of the vaccines available in the kingdom after arrival, stressed GACA.
Arriving passengers must register on the “Quddum” platform before arriving in Saudi Arabia, noting that quarantine procedures will be applied according to the protocols of the Ministry of Health for those who show a positive PCR test during the period of institutional quarantine, and recovery from coronavirus is not considered a justification for not following the institutional quarantine.
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The quarantine ends with the second negative PCR result, taken in Saudi Arabia.
Non-vaccinated Saudi citizens need to home-quarantine for five days in addition to implementing all precautionary measures approved by the Ministry of Health and taking a PCR test on the fifth, as per the GACA.
This comes in as the GACA stressed that following Saudi Arabia’s guidelines, only those who received at least one of the vaccines approved in the kingdom can enter all places, activities, events and government and private facilities and use public transportation.
Earlier in September, Saudi Arabia reopened its borders for citizens looking to travel to the UAE, South Africa and Argentina, with all three countries removed from the kingdom’s banned provided that the precautionary and preventative measures to guard against the spread of coronavirus are adhered to.
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