Mahmoud Mohamed Barakat
March 25, 2020•Update: March 25, 2020
RIYADH
Saudi Arabia has ordered a lockdown on the capital Riyadh and the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In new preventive measures ordered by Saudi King Salman, entry and exit from the three cities will be prohibited, according to the official SPA news agency.
The new measures, which will take effect on Thursday, also include preventing people in the kingdom's 13 regions from leaving the region or traveling to another region.
A three-week curfew imposed on Monday was tightened in Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah to begin at 3:00 p.m. local time (12:00 GMT) instead of 7:00 p.m. (16;00 GMT).
After first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the new coronavirus has spread to at least 171 countries and territories.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a pandemic.
The number of confirmed cases worldwide has now surpassed 435,000 while the death toll is over 19,600 and almost 112,000 have recovered, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.
Despite the rising number of cases, the majority of people who contract the virus suffer only mild symptoms before making a recovery.
