The General Authority of Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia has instructed all airlines operating in the kingdom’s airports to update the entry procedures for residents and visitors from allowed countries, and to reduce the period of institutional quarantine.
The updated procedures are as follows:
-Unvaccinated travelers and those who received one dose of the approved vaccines in the kingdom are allowed to enter provided that they submit a negative PCR test result, 72 hours before arriving in the kingdom the latest. Institutional quarantine procedures are applied to them for five days.
A COVID-19 test is conducted within 24 hours of arriving and another test on the fifth day of arrival. The traveler must adhere to the times of coronavirus examinations based on what appears to him on the “Tawakkalna” application.
The institutional quarantine period ends when they test negative for examination. Institutional quarantine procedures are applied to them for five days.
The Civil Aviation Authority clarified that companions are allowed to enter with their relatives, based on the following:
-Unvaccinated “companion” travelers under the age of eighteen are subject to home quarantine procedures for a period of five days, provided that a coronavirus examination (for those who are eight years old and above) is conducted on the fifth day of arrival, and are committed to applying all precautionary measures determined by the Ministry of Health.
-Institutional quarantine procedures are applied to unvaccinated companions who are eighteen years of age or older.
The updates will be effective as of Thursday at 12 pm.
The authority stressed that residents in the KSA must take the full vaccine doses available in the country after the end of the institutional quarantine period.
It added whoever takes one of the vaccines approved by the WHO and not approved in KSA (currently the Sinopharm and the Sinovac vaccines) should obtain a booster dose from one of the vaccines available in the kingdom after arrival.
Arrivals must register on the “Qdoom” app before arriving in the KSA, it said, adding that quarantine procedures will be applied according to the protocols of the Ministry of Health for those testing positive during the period of institutional quarantine.
Recovery from infection with the virus is not considered as a justification for not applying quarantine procedures, the authority continued.
The Civil Aviation Authority said that the home quarantine procedures for male and female citizens have been amended to apply to the unvaccinated who should be home quarantined for five days.
A coronavirus examination is conducted on the fifth day with the application of the precautionary measures determined by the Ministry of Health.
The authority stressed that the instructions in the kingdom prevent entry to all places, whether government or private facilities, joining activities or events and the use of public transportation without being fully vaccinated with one of the approved vaccines in the kingdom.
