MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2020) A flight from Saudi Arabia's Jeddah to Russia's Makhachkala will evacuate on Tuesday Russian citizens from the kingdom amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media said.
"According to the preliminary schedule of the evacuation of Russian citizens from abroad to the Russian Federation, the departure of the UTA9002 flight Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)-Makhachkala is scheduled for April 21, 15:00 local time [12:00 GMT]," the ministry wrote in its Telegram-channel on late Friday.
The flight will evacuate only those Russian citizens who live in the North Caucasian Federal District.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, more than 2.2 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 148,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Saudi Arabia has confirmed 7,142 COVID-19 cases so far, with 87 fatalities, the same university says.
