Airlines with flights entering Saudi Arabia face severe penalties if they fail to inform the Kingdom’s authorities that they are carrying Saudi passengers who have visited Ebola-hit countries, the nation’s regulatory body has warned.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said that airlines must provide the names and seat numbers of these Saudi passengers before their flights take off heading for the Kingdom, according to a source quoted in a local publication recently.

In addition, GACA has banned airlines from bringing into the country non-Saudi passengers who have, in the 21 days before the departure of their flights to the Kingdom, visited Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

The source said that the decision is aimed at preventing the disease spreading from West African countries to Saudi Arabia. This is part of measures recommended recently by the Saudi Ministry of Health.