Coronavirus / Saudi Arabia to impose full lockdown during Eid holiday

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will impose a 24-hour nation-wide lockdown during the five-day Eid holiday, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramzan and is celebrated in the kingdom on May 23-27 this year, a spokesperson of the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

"All coronavirus-related restrictions will be in place until the end of Ramzan, full ban on movement will be imposed from Ramzan 30 to Shawwal 4 [May 23-27]," the spokesperson was quoted as saying by a state-run agency.

According to the Sputnik, citizens across the Kingdom will be allowed to move freely from 9 am to 5 pm local time before Eid, except for the city of Mecca that is still under full lockdown.

Saudi Arabia confirmed over 1,900 more COVID-19 cases on Tuesday while the coronavirus-related death toll increased by nine to 264. More than 15,000 people have already recovered from the infection.

The Mecca region, with over 9,000 cases, is the most affected by the illness.

Meanwhile, the Saudi government has urged its people to comply with the safety norms to contain COVID-19 pandemic and to abide by social distancing policy.

According to Johns Hopkins University, there is 42,925 number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Kingdom.

The worldwide tally, on the other hand, has reached 4,247,709 cases with as many as 2,90,838 deaths. Most of the fatalities have been reported in Europe and the United States.