Saudi Arabia will introduce a total curfew during the five days of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday which marks the end of the holy month of fasting for Ramadan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday 12 May 'Interior, facing the increase in new cases of Covid-19.
The kingdom, the Arab country with the most infections in the Gulf, is trying to stem the epidemic and will reimpose " a total curfew during the period (from Eid el-Fitr) from 23 to 27 May ", the ministry said in a statement relayed by the Saudi official agency SPA.
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Most parts of the country had been under a full curfew at the start of the epidemic, but the government relaxed the rule by allowing people to go out between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. last month at the start of Ramadan. Shopping centers and stores have been allowed to reopen except in certain cases, such as in Mecca, the first holy city in Islam, where the number of cases has continued to increase despite a strict curfew.
According to the latest official figures from the Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia has registered 42,925 cases of infections, including 264 deaths and 15,257 recoveries.
Read also: Coronavirus: Mecca, the source of infection in Saudi Arabia
In March Saudi Arabia suspended Umrah, the small Muslim pilgrimage, but the authorities have not yet announced whether or not to cancel the hajj, the great pilgrimage and one of the five pillars of Islam, scheduled to start from end of July. On the other hand, they encouraged Muslims to suspend their preparations for the pilgrimage which had attracted more than 2.5 million pilgrims in 2019.