ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia will only allow entry to travellers who were vaccinated with China-made Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccines if they received a booster shot from one of the four approved vaccines in the Kingdom, according to its e-visa portal.
The vaccines that are currently recognised by the Kingdom include: Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“Guests who have completed two doses of the Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccines will be accepted if they have received an additional dose of one of the four vaccines approved in the Kingdom,” the Ministry of Tourism said in a statement on the e-visa portal.
Riyadh included the Sinovac vaccine on the list of vaccines accepted for entry into the country in July to facilitate those who wanted to perform the pilgrimage.
At the same time, while accepting Pakistan’s request to include Chinese vaccines to its list of approved Covid-19 shots, Riyadh permitted Pakistan nationals inoculated with Chinese jabs to enter the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia reopened its borders and began allowing vaccinated tourists into the country on August 1 for the first time in 18 months after imposing restrictions at the start of the pandemic to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The historically closed-off kingdom introduced electronic visas for tourists in late 2019, just before the pandemic struck.
Travellers will be required to provide a negative PCR test result dated within 72 hours before departure, as well as an approved vaccination certificate authorized by health officials in the country of issue.
There is no quarantine requirement for vaccinated travellers, the ministry said.
Citizens from 49 countries can apply for an e-visa on the “Spirit of Saudi” portal.
“All travellers entering on a previously issued tourism visa will be required to pay an additional fee of SAR 40 ($10) at the airport of their arrival to cover insurance for any Covid-19 related medical expenses,” the ministry said.
The Kingdom has reported 199,620,791 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, out of which only 10,575 are currently active as of Tuesday.
More than 28 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered across Saudi Arabia at over 587 inoculation centres.
