Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaiStock

Saudi Arabia has decided to suspend all international commercial flights for a week amid the latest global developments of the coronavirus pandemic, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

According to the report, Saudi Arabia will suspend all international commercial flights and entry to the kingdom through land and sea ports for a period of one week.

The restrictions are precautions based on the recommendations of the Saudi health ministry, it added.

The decision follows the discovery of a fast-spreading mutation of the coronavirus in Britain, Denmark, and South Africa.

On Saturday, Britain announced a stay at home order for part of the country to slow the new variant.

With the decision to suspend flights, Saudi Arabia joined a host of other countries to have made similar decisions in the last 24 hours. One of these countries is the Netherlands, which banned all passenger flights from Britain until January 1.

In Israel, the Coronavirus Cabinet on Sunday ruled to bar non-citizens from entering Israel from the three countries where the new coronavirus mutation has been identified.

After the meeting, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told reporters that the new mutation forced Israel’s leadership to make a “tough but necessary decision”.

Netanyahu has reportedly expressed serious concerns during talks with officials regarding the new mutation of the coronavirus and is laying the groundwork for a third nationwide lockdown.