The source said that the new ban could be extended for an additional week.

All people who have arrived in Saudi Arabia from European countries, as well as other states where the new coronavirus strain has emerged, will have to self-isolate at home for two weeks.

Those who have visited these countries in the past three months will need to get tested for COVID-19, according to SPA.

On Saturday, the UK government practically locked down parts of the country, including London, after admitting that more than half of all new COVID-19 cases had been caused by a mutated coronavirus strain that can transmit up to 70-percent faster. As UK citizens rushed out of the locked down areas ahead of Christmas, many countries chose to close borders with the whole of the United Kingdom in a bid to prevent the import of the new strain.