[LilFarmer]

Saudi Arabia seals off Shia Qatif region over coronavirus fears
Only essential services will be allowed to operate in area home to 500,000 people
Agence France-Presse
Mon 9 Mar 2020 01.57 GMT

Saudi Arabia has cordoned off an oil-rich Shia region, suspended air and sea travel to nine countries and closed schools and universities, in a series of measures to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus.
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The lockdown on Qatif on Sunday, an eastern area that is home to around 500,000 people, is the first action of its kind across the Gulf region, which has confirmed more than 230 coronavirus cases – most of them people returning from religious pilgrimages to Shia-majority Iran.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/mar/09/saudi-arabia-seals-off-shia-qatif-region-over-coronavirus-fears

[Jim Noble]

The last country to use lockdowns will be this one.

[grey_whiskers]

Oh, yeah, warm weather is supposed to make all this go away.

And we know Saudi Arabia is on the whole, colder than Baffin Island. /sarc>

God I'm pissed off at the Flu Bros.

[PA Engineer]

Qatif is very close to Dharhan and Ras Tanura. This is the administrative and export center for oil.