Jeddah: Saudi Arabia has announced that it will lift a travel ban on expats from six countries including India that was introduced to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The directives will allow direct entry of fully vaccinated expatriates without the need to spend 14 days in transit outside their countries before entering the Kingdom, Arab News reported.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Interior issued the directive saying that changes will commence at 1 am on December 1.

The English-language newspaper said that expats arriving from these countries must spend five days in quarantine regardless of their vaccination status outside the Kingdom.

Earlier in February, the direct entry ban was imposed due to a global spike in COVID-19 cases.

The ban covered Lebanon, UAE, Egypt, Turkey, the US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, South Africa, India, Indonesia and Japan.

The travel ban also applied to travellers who transited through any of the 20 countries in the 14 days before a planned visit to the country.