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.

A boy wears a protective face mask, as he rides a bicycle, after Saudi Arabia imposed a temporary lockdown on the province of Qatif, following the spread of coronavirus, in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. (File photo: Reuters)

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.

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