Amidst the rising number of Covid cases, Saudi Arabia banned its citizens from travelling to sixteen countries, including India.
The sixteen countries from India include Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, and Venezuela.
However, the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia has assured citizens that zero monkeypox cases have been detected. The Deputy Minister of Health for preventive health – Abdullah Asiri, said that the country is capable of monitoring and discovering any suspected cases of monkeypox. The kingdom can also fight against the virus if any new cases are found.
“Until now, cases of transmission between humans are very limited, and therefore the possibility of any outbreaks occurring from it, even in countries that have detected cases, are very low,” Asiri added.
Whereas in the last 24-hours, India has recorded as many as 2,226 new COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India informed on Sunday. The total COVID-19 cases in India rose to 4,31,36,371 that includes 14,955 active.
Around 1.54 million Indians in Saudi Arabia would be affected by this decision.
While according to reports, there are about 92 cases of monkeypox in 12 countries, even as the World Health Organisation (WHO) is working on analysing the extent and reason for the outbreak.
Earlier, the WHO said that the virus is endemic in some animal populations in certain animal populations in several countries, which is why the outbreaks are happening among local people and travellers.
Meanwhile, the UN agency has warned that the Covid-19 pandemic is “most certainly not over”. This is despite the plunge in reported cases. As mentioned by the Director-General of WHO – Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “we lower our guard at our peril.”
