Saudi Arabia eases coronavirus lockdown on Qatif city, allows entry and exit
Saudi Arabia will ease a coronavirus lockdown on
Qatif in the Kingdom’s eastern region by allowing people to enter and exit the
city, according to an interior ministry source, adding that partial movement
during the day.
“Entry into and exit from the Qatif Governorate will
be allowed while continuing public movement during the day from nine in the
morning until five in the evening,” the Saudi Press Agency reported citing a
statement from a Ministry of Interior source.
Qatif, located in the eastern region of Saudi
Arabia, has been under lockdown since March 8 to prevent the spread of the
coronavirus.
The temporary suspension of the entry and exit of
Qatif at the time extended from the city’s Saihat district in the south to
Safwa in the north.
Saudi Arabia recorded 1,325 new coronavirus cases
and five new deaths in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of confirmed
cases in the Kingdom to 21,402, and the death toll to 157, the Ministry of
Health announced on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s former health minister
Hamad al-Mane said there is “absolutely no way” to contain the coronavirus
outbreak except by living with it, he said in an article published in Okaz
newspaper.
