Saudi Arabia sets to lift curfew, resumes commercial activities
Saudi Arabia has announced plan to lift the curfew imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across the kingdom.
Effective from Sunday, 21 June, 2020, all commercial activities will resume across the kingdom.
Saudi government will lift the curfew across the country, including in the cities of Makkah and Jeddah where residents are only allowed to leave their homes for necessities.
Alongside with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, around 1,560 mosques in Makkah that have been closed for nearly three months, will also reopen on Sunday morning.
Over 90,000 mosques in Saudi Arabia reopened across the kingdom in late May as part of the second phase of easing lockdown restrictions.
During that second phase of easing of the lockdown restrictions, domestic flights were given the green light to resume operations, travel within the kingdom by varied means of transportation, besides private cars, were permitted, and restaurants and cafés too were allowed to reopen.
The Ministry of Interior recently announced that Umrah pilgrimage and international flights remain suspended while entry and exit to the kingdom by land or sea are still prohibited.
The rule which disallows gatherings of more than 50 people is still in place and residents are expected to continue to observe social distancing coupled with wearing of a mask in public.
In a statement on Saturday 20 June, 2020, the Ministry of Health said the kingdom has recorded 3,941 cases, 3,153 people have recovered and 46 more people had died from COVID-19.
The Ministry further explained the new cases include 740 cases recorded in Riyadh, 421 in Jeddah, 354 in Makkah and 285 in Hufof.
So far, Saudi Arabia has recorded a total of 1,230 deaths from the novel coronavirus.