Saudi Arabia has granted approval for people vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik jab to enter the country in a move that will enable Muslims to take part in religious pilgrimages, the vaccine’s developers said Sunday.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has granted approval for entry of individuals vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine starting from January 1, 2022,” the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which financed the development of Sputnik V, said in a statement.
Saad al-Rabiah, General Manager of Business Development at STC, claims that the technology has already been tested in the NEOM megacity. Al Arabiya English received a report about this. “At the LEAP conference in Riyadh, we’re looking now into moving to a larger scale this year, 2023,” al-Rabiah said. Al-Rabiah claims that STC plans to use satellites that “have higher speed than, for example, Starlink, the one with Elon Musk.” The goal of STC’s aim is to provide high-speed internet to every area of the Kingdom, where now 90% of the population has access to the internet. Starlink, on the other hand, focuses on providing internet access to underdeveloped countries.
Better internet access, in al-Rabiah’s opinion, will “elevate [the] living experience” for people who reside in rural areas by facilitating communication with friends and family, better healthcare, and easier access to law enforcement.
Online access to some services will also help governments make sure that spending in rural areas is more effectively allocated.
In addition, STC is working on other initiatives. One such program is smart cities, which uses artificial intelligence and traffic pattern monitoring to give authorities the information they need to reroute traffic.
Drone technology is being used by STC to investigate possible mineral mining sites across the country’s vast deserts.
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