The Assistant Minister of Health and MOH spokesman, Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdulaali, stated that the world is still recording a rising number of daily cases of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), explaining that the non-compliance with precautionary measures caused the second global wave of this pandemic. Whereas the commitment of our society contributed, by Allah’s Grace, to preventing such rise of daily COVID-19 infections and caused a decline in critical cases and mortality rate. MOH spokesman made this statement in COVID-19 briefing held on Sunday, which also hosted the Ministry of Interior (MOI) spokesman, Lt. Col. Talal Al-Shalhoub.
Al-Abdulaali mentioned that 374 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Kingdom, bringing the total cases to 347,656, including 8,000 active cases, still receiving medical care. Their health status is mostly stable, with the exception of 771 critical cases.
He, also, revealed that 394 new recoveries were reported, bringing the total number of recoveries to 334,236 to date. Besides, 18 deaths were reported, bringing the total deaths to 5,420, May Allah bestow His mercy upon them. Besides, 44,840 new lab tests for COVID-19 have been conducted throughout the Kingdom, bringing the total tests to 8,097,534 tests.
MOH spokesman underscored the importance of reporting, via 937-Service Center, any violations of public or private health facilities. He pointed out that integrated health services are still provided through all healthcare centers and other MOH’s facilities, in terms of conducting 4,264,456 Molecular Diagnostic Tests «Swab Tests» at Make Sure «Taakkad» Centers, serving 1,432,205 patients at Rest Assured «Tetamman» Clinics., in addition to offering medical consultations via 937-Service Center to 20,596,753 beneficiaries.
For his part, MOI spokesman, Lt. Col. Talal Al-Shalhoub, mentioned that we are currently witnessing climate change during this winter season, while there is still an increase in family and non-family gatherings with non-compliance with precautionary measures. He pointed out that security authorities observed that the high level of social confidence in the preventive health situation against COVID-19 pandemic in the Kingdom resulted in a remarkable decrease in adherence to the adopted and announced protocols of COVID-19 infection-related precautionary measures, such as: not wearing a face mask and gathering exceeding the allowed number of people.
He underlined that, in implementation of the adopted instructions, security forces keep on following up adherence of individuals and establishments of all kinds to precautionary measures, monitoring any violations, as well as applying penalties for such violations at all types of public sites, residential areas, and rest houses. “In this regard, I call upon all individuals and entities to fully adhere to adopted instructions and protocols to curb the spread of COVID-19, and to firmly abide by wearing face masks and social distancing,” said Al-Shalhoub.
He added: “Considering the fact that returning to normal life conditions does not mean disappearance of risks, everyone has a national responsibility to protect himself and his family against this virus; thus playing his role in curbing its spread by adhering to precautionary measures at all times, as well as reporting any violations to such precautions by calling 999 in all regions of the Kingdom and 911 in Makkah and Riyadh regions.”