Bahrain Mirror: Saudi Arabia's decision to close its land border (including the border with Bahrain via the King Fahd Causeway) is to come into effect on Saturday (March 7, 2020) night. Its decision comes within a series of precautionary measures taken by the Kingdom to counter the Coronavirus.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Interior, published by the Saudi Press Agency, said that the Kingdom's government has decided the following:

Entry into the Kingdom by arrivals from United Arab Emirates; the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Bahrain will be temporarily restricted to the three following airports only: King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh; King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.

Entry through land ports between the Kingdom and those three countries will be confined to the commercial trucks only, provided that the Ministry of Health takes all necessary precautions at the aforementioned airports, as well as regarding the drivers and their accompanying of those trucks in the land ports, where these measures shall be applied immediately.

With regard to the entry of Saudi citizens and expatriates in the Kingdom, who come from the three countries, this procedure will enter into force at 11:55 pm on Saturday March 7, 2020.

Whoever wishes to come to the Kingdom by a new visa or a valid visa, from any country where the risk of the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID 19) - according to the list approved by the competent health authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - must submit the laboratory certificate PCR proven free of infection with COVID 19. This applies to those who resided in those countries during the (14) days prior to entering the Kingdom. The air carrier must ensure that the PCR laboratory certificate is valid, and that it is new and issued within the twenty-four hours prior to the passenger boarding.

The embassies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the countries referred to in the item (Second) shall identify specific laboratories accredited by the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The official source of the Ministry of Interior excluded from the previous procedures: the humanitarian and social cases, based on the given data and facts of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health.

Arabic Version