To prevent the spread of Coronavirus, Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it has imposed a temporary lock-down on the eastern Qatif province, an oil-producing region and a stronghold of the kingdom’s Shiite minority, after 11 people there were infected.
“Given that all 11 recorded positive cases of the new Coronavirus are from Qatif… it has been decided… to temporarily suspend entry and exit from Qatif,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
The Saudi interior ministry said in a statement that no one would be allowed to enter or exit Qatif and that work at all public and private sectors in the province had been suspended with the exception of institutions providing necessary services.
All the individuals who had been diagnosed with the disease in the kingdom have either been to Iran or interacted with people who visited the Islamic Republic, home to major Shi’ite holy sites.
Commercial supplies would continue to flow to the region, said the statement carried on state media.
