DEPARTMENT of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Brigido “Dodo” Dulay on Tuesday, May 25, 2021, clarified that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who have not been vaccinated or have been inoculated with the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine will still be able to enter Saudi Arabia, although they will be required to undergo quarantine for seven days.
In a social media post Tuesday, Dulay said unvaccinated OFWs will also be required to undergo a polymerase chain reaction test (PCR) test for Sars-CoV-2 upon arrival and on the seventh day from arrival. Children under eight years old are exempted.
“We are working with Saudi authorities to mitigate the impact of these new guidelines on our OFWs,” Dulay said.
He was referring to the guidelines issued by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca) on Monday, May 24.
Under the Gaca guidelines, non-Saudis are required to undergo quarantine for seven days at a facility supervised by the country’s Ministry of Health (MOH).
The cost of this seven-day quarantine will be included in the price of the airline ticket.
Exempted from the mandatory quarantine are individuals who have received the complete regimen for Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.
Also exempted are domestic workers accompanying Saudi citizens and immunized residents, members of official delegations, holder of diplomatic visas and their families, airline and marine vessel crew, truck drivers and their assistants, and passengers involved in health supply chains determined by Saudi’s Ministry of Health.
Non-Saudi travelers must also present a health insurance policy that covers coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). (Marites Villamor-Ilano / SunStar Philippines)