RIYADH: Citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have been temporarily banned from entering Saudi Arabia’s holy cities Makkah and Madinah, the Kingdom’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday. The decision was made in light of the rising number of coronavirus cases in some GCC countries like Kuwait and Bahrain, which have 45 and 36 reported cases respectively. GCC citizens who have been in Saudi Arabia for 14 continuous days and have not displayed symptoms of coronavirus are exempt from the ban, and can obtain a permit from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah’s website should they wish to perform Umrah and visit the Prophet’s mosque in Madinah. On Thursday, the Kingdom temporarily suspended entry for individuals seeking to perform the Umrah pilgrimage in Makkah or visit the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, as well as tourists traveling from countries where coronavirus poses a risk as determined by the Kingdom’s health authorities. These countries include China, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Kazakhstan.