RIYADH – Saudi Arabia Friday restricted entry into the Kingdom forpassengers coming from 20 countries including Pakistan, India, and SriLanka to stem the spread of novel coronavirus.

Kingdom announced to resume international flight operations from May 17except for the 20 countries facing a travel ban. The ban was imposed onpeople arriving from Pakistan, Argentina, the United Arab Emirates,Germany, the United States of America, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Pakistan,Brazil, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Turkey, South Africa, Sweden,Switzerland, France, Lebanon, Egypt, India, and Japan.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) notified the airlinesoperating from and to the airports of Saudi Arabia regarding the impositionof new travel curbs.

The authorities gave a deadline of 72 hours to the Saudi citizens and Iqamaholders to return to Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the Kingdom also restricted the entry of passengers coming fromthe European Union and Switzerland.