CAIRO (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia temporarily suspended entry of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) citizens to Mecca and Medina, the foreign ministry announced in a statement published by the state news agency on Friday.

The statement added it will exclude from that decision the citizens of the GCC who had been in Saudi Arabia for more than 14 continuous days and didn’t show any symptoms of the new coronavirus (COVID-19).

Saudi Arabia on Thursday temporarily suspended entry for individuals seeking to perform Umrah pilgrimage in Mecca or to visit the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, as well as tourists traveling from countries where the coronavirus poses a risk as determined by the Kingdom’s health authorities.