Alhamdulillah, Saudi Arabian Citizens Have Been Allowed To Travel Abroad

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JAKARTA - There was excitement but no crowd on Monday morning at Riyadh's international airport, when Saudi Arabia lifted a ban on its nationals from traveling out of the Gulf state without prior permission from authorities.

Saudi nationals who have received at least one injection of COVID-19 vaccination at least two weeks before traveling will be allowed to travel for the first time since March 2020.

The same permission is also granted to those who have recovered from coronavirus disease in the last six months, and those under the age of 18.

"It's an amazing feeling, thank God, we are happy, especially after the difficult times that we and the rest of the world have suffered," said Bandar Al Nawash, a passenger who was in the departure lounge of King Khalid International Airport.

Faisal Al Tamimi, also a Saudi citizen, said he had previously thought there would be many people at the airport, but it turned out there were only a few travelers on Monday morning after the suspension was lifted at 1 a.m. local time.

"I think people are worried about variants of coronavirus, such as those in India, and new developments in some countries," al Tamimi said.

There are 13 countries that are still prohibited from visiting Saudi citizens without prior permission, either through direct or indirect flights due to the risk of COVID-19.

Saudi Arabia, with a population of about 30 million people, reported 825 new coronavirus infections as of Sunday, bringing the total number of cases to 433,094, including 7,162 deaths.

Authorities said on Sunday more than 11.5 million vaccines had been administered in the Gulf Arab country so far.

"Alhamdulillah ... today we can travel either for tourism or for business. God willing this pandemic will be over and everyone can travel," Jaber Al Mahadi, another traveler at the airport, said Monday morning.