Covid-19: Saudi Arabia bans international flights to India, 15 other countries – Hindustan Times

Following the re-outbreak of Covid-19 and the rapid surge in the number of daily Covid infections over the past few weeks, Saudi Arabia has banned its citizens from traveling to sixteen countries, including India.
The sixteen countries where the citizens of Saudi Arabia are banned to travel apart from India include Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Indonesia, Vietnam, Armenia, Belarus, and Venezuela, reported Gulf News.
Further, the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia has assured the public that zero monkeypox cases have been detected in the country. Abdullah Asiri, Deputy Minister of Health for preventive health has said that the Kingdom has the capability to monitor and discover any suspected monkeypox cases and also to fight against the infection if any new case emerges.
“Until now, cases of transmission between humans are very limited, and therefore the possibility of any outbreaks occurring from it, even in countries that have detected cases, are very low,” he added.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 80 cases of monkeypox in 11 countries and said they are working to better understand the extent and cause of the outbreak.
In a statement issued on Friday, the WHO said the virus is endemic in some animal populations in a number of countries, leading to occasional outbreaks among local people and travelers.
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Monkeypox: UK confirms local transmission, WHO expects more cases
The World Health Organization said it expects to identify more cases of monkeypox as it expands surveillance in countries where the disease is not typically found. “What seems to be happening now is that it has got into the population as a sexual form, as a genital form, and is being spread as are sexually transmitted infections, which has amplified its transmission around the world,” WHO official an infectious disease specialist, David Heymann, told Reuters.
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Russia steps up offensive in Ukraine’s east
Ukraine ruled out a ceasefire or any territorial concessions to Moscow as Russia stepped up its attack in country’s the east and south, pounding the Donbas and Mykolaiv regions with air strikes and artillery fire. “Only Ukraine has the right to decide about its future,” he said. Polish President Andrzej Duda said he “will not rest until Ukraine becomes a full-fledged member” of the European Union. “Half-measures should not be used when aggression should be stopped,” Zelensky said.
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Pakistani-origin Spanish sisters tortured, shot dead for honour; 6 held: Reports
Two days after two Pakistani-origin Spanish sisters were severely tortured and shot dead in the Gujrat district of Punjab province, police arrested six men from the same family on Sunday. Arooj Abbas, 21, and Aneesa Abbas, 23, were allegedly killed for refusing to bring their husbands — cousins from forced marriages — to Spain. News agency PTI reported that the sisters were found dead in their house.
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After fresh aid reaches Colombo, Sri Lanka PM thanks MK Stalin, people of India
Sri Lanka prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday thanked Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, as well as the people of India, after a fresh consignment, containing food items and milk, reached the crisis-hit country after being flagged off from Chennai, on May 18. The latest consignment was flagged by Tamil Nadu CM Stalin. India’s southern state and the neighbouring country are only separated by the Palk Strait.
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US-led Indo-Pacific strategy is a ploy to create divisions: China
The US-led Indo-Pacific strategy is a ploy to create divisions and incite confrontation in the region, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said on Sunday, adding that the plan is bound to fail. “Facts will prove that the so-called Indo-Pacific strategy is in essence a strategy to create division, to incite confrontation and to undermine peace,” Wang said.
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