The Ghanaian Minaret

Jeddah: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has directed all airlines to ensure the passengers from 29 African countries and 12 South African countries have taken yellow fever vaccination and obtained valid certificates.

The Saudi government also directed that the vaccination must be done at least 10 days prior to the arrival of passengers into the Kingdom.

“Failure to comply with circulars issued by GACA is an explicit violation of the government’s orders. Violators shall be held responsible, and legal procedures shall be initiated against them,” said the General Authority of Civil Aviation in a statement.

African countries affected by the directive include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, and Gambia.

The rest are Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.

In South America, the directive affects countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

“Exempted from this requirement are children under the age of nine months, passengers passing through the countries listed above, provided that transit time did not exceed 12 hours and they did not leave the transit area, and transit passengers passing through the Kingdom from the countries listed above, provided they do not leave the transit area within 12 hours,” said the authority.

It encouraged airline operators to take necessary precautions at the point of embarkation to ensure that persons are in possession of the documents prescribed by the states of transit and destination.