On Sunday, the governor of Hadhramout, Faraj Al-Bahsani, lifted the total lockdown on the town in which Yemen’s first confirmed COVID-19 case was identified. A directive over the weekend ordered the shuttering of Al-Sheher, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the small port town in Hadhramout governorate. It also placed a curfew on all residents of Al-Sheher, requiring them to stay home from 8 a.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday. 

Al-Sheher will now be under the same restrictions imposed on the rest of the governorate, a nightly curfew from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m., according to a document issued by Hadhramout’s joint operations center, which was formed to coordinate with the Supreme National Emergency Committee for Coronavirus. 

A separate ban prohibiting commercial cargo and aid through Al-Wadeeah land port, which connects northern Hadhramout to Saudi Arabia, has been lifted. Al-Wadeeah is now the only functioning land border entry point to Yemen. 

The government-controlled Saba News agency quoted Al-Wadeeah land port director Mutlaq Al-Say’ari, who said the ban on commercial cargo and humanitarian relief will be lifted, though the ban people not affilitated with those operations remains. 

Saudi officials first imposed a ban on people from entering the Kingdom on March 9 as a precaution against the spread of COVID-19. A full ban on both people and cargo followed the World Health Organization’s confirmation of the coronavirus in Al-Sheher town on Friday.