There's A New COVID-19 Outbreak But No Monkeypox Has Been Found: Saudi Arabia Bans Its Citizens From Traveling To 16 Countries, Including Indonesia

Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Saudi Arabia. (Wikimedia Commons / Abdulhadi Basit)

JAKARTA - Saudi Arabian authorities have banned their citizens from traveling to 16 countries in various parts of the world due to the new COVID-19 outbreak, but announced that they have not found any cases of monkey deformities.

Quoted from the Saudi Gazette Monday, May 23, the Directorate General of Passports (Jawazat) of Saudi Arabia announced the ban on its citizens on Saturday last week. The prohibition includes being imposed on countries from Africa, America and Europe.

These countries include, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus and Venezuela.

The ban comes following a steady increase in the number of daily COVID-19 infections over the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health ensures that the public has not detected any cases of monkeypox in Saudi Arabia, Al Arabiya reported as reported by Gulfnews.

Dr. Abdullah Asiri, deputy health minister for preventive health, said the Kingdom's health sector was able to monitor and find suspected cases of 'monkeypox', including to fight infection.

"There are standard definitions of suspected cases and ways to confirm them and methods of monitoring and diagnosis are available in the Royal laboratory," he said.

"Until now, cases of human-to-human transmission have been very limited, so the likelihood of an outbreak occurring, even in countries that have detected cases, is very low," he added.

To note, the World Health Organization (WHO) says about 80 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in 11 countries, warning that more cases may be reported.