Saudi Arabia reinstates lockdown in Jeddah

Saudi Arabia has put its second largest city Jeddah under a new strict 14-day lockdown in response to a sharp increase in new Covid-19 infections in the city in recent days.

The new measures, which came into force on 6 June, prohibit residents from leaving their homes between 15:00 and 06:00, and will last until 20 June, subject to renewal. This is while the rest of the country remains under a looser curfew of between 20:00 and 06:00 that was introduced on 31 May.

Both government and private sector workers are being forbidden to work from their offices, while dining in restaurants and cafes, as well as prayers in mosques have been suspended. These tighter measures will likely affect gasoline and gasoil demand in the city as they limit residents' movements.

But entering and exiting the city remains permitted outside of curfew hours, with domestic air travel and train trips also allowed.

Latest available data from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (Jodi) show that Saudi transport fuel demand fell to multi-year lows in March when the Covid-19 mitigation measures began coming into force. Gasoline and jet fuel demand suffered the biggest hit, falling by 20pc and 52pc respectively from their 2019 averages.

Of the 3,121 new Covid-19 infections recorded in the country on 6 June, 527 cases were in Jeddah, up from an average of 365 in the final 10 days of May.

The Saudi authorities said late last month that it planned to remove the nationwide curfew completely by 21 June, although it warned that this could be subject to change if necessary.

By Ieva Paldaviciute