Saudi Arabia cancels Jeddah Season festival over coronavirus scare

Saudi Arabia cancelled "Jeddah Season", a weeks-long entertainment and cultural festival in the Red Sea port city, as part of measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak, state television reported on Thursday.

The event, which had been scheduled for June and July, was first run last year under efforts by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to open up Saudis' cloistered lifestyle and boost domestic



consumption in the kingdom's nascent entertainment sector.

Meanwhile, oil prices bounced nearly 7 per cent on Thursday after a three-day selloff drove them to their lowest in almost two decades as demand plummeted due to the coronavirus and supplies surged in a fight for market share between Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia, the de-facto leader of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which kicked off a price war with Russia that sent prices into tailspin, is planning to keep pumping at a record rate of 12.3 million barrels per day (bpd) for months.