On Tuesday morning, the COVID-19 Monitoring Committee held its 62nd meeting. Chaired by the Minister of Health, Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, the meeting was attended by the committee members, who represent the relevant government agencies. During the meeting, all relevant COVID-19 updates and reports were reviewed. The committee has discussed the global epidemiological situation, as well as the cases reported locally and their health condition. All precautionary measures carried out at the points of entry into the Kingdom will continue in full, the Committee stressed, and will be further tightened. The Committee commended the citizens’ compliance with the curfew, and called on them to stay home, and refrain from going unless necessary.
The meeting was followed by a joint press conference, the participants in which included Dr. Muhammad al-Abdulaali, MOH spokesman and Lt. Col. Talal Al-Shalhoub, Ministry of Interior spokesman.
The MOH spokesman mentioned that the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has amounted to more than 2,500,000 cases, of which 655,000 cases have recovered to date. As for the COVID-19 death toll, it has jumped to 170,000 deaths.
“Speaking of the Kingdom,” Al-Abdulaali said, “we have 1,147 new confirmed cases, 868 of them were detected through the active surveillance, which represent 76% of the total cases”. He mentioned that the new cases were reported in the following cities: 305 in Makkah, 299 in Madinah, 171 in Jeddah, 148 in Riyadh, 138 in Al-Hafouf, 27 in Taif, 12 in Jubail, 10 in Tabuk, 8 in Khulais, 6 in Buraidah, 5 in Dammam, 3 in Al-Mekhwah, 2 in Arar, 2 in Unaizah, 2 in Dhahran, 2 in Al-Hada, 1 in Al-Jouf, 1 in Al-Qurayyat, 1 in Al-Baha, 1 in Al-Qunfudah, 1 in Al-Qurai, 1 in Mahayel Assir and 1 in Sabt Alaya.
He mentioned that these cases include 9,882 active cases receiving medical care. Of these, there are 81 critical cases, whereas the health condition of the rest is reassuring. The number of new recoveries is 150, bringing the total recoveries to 1,640 cases. And the number of new deaths is 6, bringing the total deaths to 109 cases. The new deaths include 5 Saudis, 3 in Makkah (81, 60 and 65 years old) and 2 in Riyadh (87 and 85 years old), and 1 non-Saudi, 49 years in Jeddah. He said that more than 200,000 people were tested for COVID-19 using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, and the field testing included more than half a million people, by 150 teams across the Kingdom.
The MOH spokesman commended Saudi community commitment to healthy behaviors and instructions. He reiterated that anyone who develops symptoms, or is willing to get medical advice, can use the self-assessment application ‘Mawid’, or call 937, which works around the clock.
For his part, the Ministry of Interior spokesman drew the attention to the ministry statement announced today on revising the times during which movement is permissible during the holy month of Ramadan. The security authorities, supported by the military forces, will continue implementing the curfew in all provinces, cities, villages, hamlets and centers, he confirmed. He urged everyone to get information from the authenticated sources and not listening to rumors and unverified information in the social media, as the only reliable source is the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) or the concerned government agency.
He commended the commitment of all to the preventive measures especially the curfew, with the exception of some individual violations, noting that violators are penalized by the security men. He said that the unified travel permit will take effect form today in all Kingdom’s regions for those categories with exceptions.