Saudi authorities announced a travel ban on visitors from three African countries as a precaution against the Ebola outbreak in Africa.
The Public Health Authority (Weqaya) said travelers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan will not be allowed to enter Saudi Arabia until further notice, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Officials also suspended all visa types for people who had stayed in these three countries within 21 days before arriving in Saudi Arabia, even if they traveled through a third country.
Weqaya also introduced stricter health measures for travelers coming from Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, and Congo-Brazzaville. These visitors will undergo health screenings and monitoring at entry points.
The authority confirmed that no Ebola cases have been reported in Saudi Arabia since 2019.
Ebola was first identified in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the World Health Organization says its fatality rate is about 50 percent. Around 15,000 people have died from the virus since it was discovered.
Meanwhile, French authorities confirmed the country’s first Ebola case after a doctor contracted the virus during a humanitarian mission in the DRC and was placed in a specialized quarantine facility after returning to France.
