JEDDAH — As many as 18,680 Saudi citizens, including men and women, left the Kingdom via land borders and airports within 36 hours after the ban on international travel was lifted on May 17 (Monday), the Ministry of Interior announced on Wednesday, adding that 10,450 traveled in the first 24 hours. According to the ministry, the United Arab Emirates was the top destination for those who traveled via air, followed by Egypt, Qatar, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, 5,717 citizens departed for the neighboring countries via land border crossings. A total of 3,362 used the King Fahd Causeway to travel to Bahrain while 689 left for the UAE through the Al-Batha border crossing. As many as 673 Saudis passed through the Al-Haditha checkpoint to reach Jordan while 324 departed for Qatar crossing the Salwa checkpoint and 270 went to Kuwait using the Khafji border crossing. Saudi Arabia opened its land, sea and air borders on May 17, allowing all immunized citizens to travel outside the Kingdom. The citizens who have been permitted to travel include those who received two doses of coronavirus vaccine or those who passed 14 days after taking the first dose of the vaccine. The ministry of interior urged the citizens to take utmost caution while traveling to high-risk countries, where the disease is spreading at a higher rate. Last Sunday, Saudi Arabia warned citizens against traveling to 13 countries without permission due to security circumstances and the instability in a number of countries, while the continuation of the coronavirus pandemic and the spread of new variant strains of the virus in some other countries. The countries that Saudi citizens have been advised against visiting are the following: Afghanistan, Armenia, Belarus, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela and Yemen. The ministry also called on citizens wishing to travel to the countries to which travel is permitted to exercise caution and stay away from areas where instability prevails or witnesses the spread of the virus, and to follow all precautionary measures, regardless of their destinations.
