On Friday afternoon, the COVID-19 Monitoring Committee held its 44th 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 out unless extremely necessary (during the hours when going out is permissible).
The meeting was followed by a joint press conference, the participants in which included Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdulaali, MOH spokesman, and Mr. Nader Al-Wehibi, the Assistant Governor for Insurance Affairs, General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI). The MOH spokesman mentioned, by Allah’s Grace, MOH has received a number of cases who made use of the generous order on free treatment for all citizens and residents, and even violators of residency in the Kingdom. The access of these patients to the health services is very important to protect their health and community in general. MOH always urges everyone to get the health services as quickly as possible, the sooner you seek help, the greater your chances for recovery, he said. He added that the increase in the confirmed cases means the quick detection of them, “the sooner the detection of cases, the better protection for individuals and community”. He lauded the royal decisions and described them as wise and for the sake of community.
The MOH spokesman mentioned that the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has amounted to more than one million cases, of which 212,000 cases have recovered to date. As for the COVID-19 death toll, it has jumped to 53,000.
“154 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the Kingdom,” said Al-Abdulaali. “These include 3 cases coming from abroad, and are currently quarantined. While the remaining 151 cases have been in contact with previously reported cases. He urged everyone to avoid gatherings, to stay at home, and refrain from going out unless necessary.
Al-Abdulaali pointed out that these new cases were recorded in the following cities: 34 in Madinah, 30 in Jeddah, 21 in Makkah, 17 in Tabuk, 13 in Riyadh, 9 in Buraidah, 6 in Al-Qatif, 4 in Al-Hafouf, 3 in Khobar, 3 in Al-Ras, 3 in Najran, 2 in Mahayel Assir, 2 in Al-Khafji, 2 in Dhahran, 1 in Khamis Mushayt, 1 in Ras Tanura, 1 in Dammam, 1 in Al-Wajeh and 1 in Dhaba.
This brings the total cases tested positive for COVID-19 up to 2039 cases, of whom 1,663 cases are active, receiving medical care and their health condition is mostly stable; with the exception of 41 critical cases receiving intensive care, he said, adding that 23 cases have recovered, bringing the total recovered to 351 and 25 deaths.
The MOH spokesman reiterated the importance of self-assessment by using the ‘Mawid’ service, provided by MOH. “Anyone who experiences symptoms, or has a question can call the 937 Service Center which works around the clock,” he added.
For his part, Mr. Nader Al-Wehibi, the Assistant Governor for Insurance Affairs, General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) commended the order of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - may Allah protect him - that the government, through the SANID system, will pay 60 percent of the salaries of the Saudi employees in the private sector. He said that the government sensed the challenges experienced by the private sector in paying employee wages, in light of the implementation of the precautionary measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
He explained that the difficulties facing the private sector include its inability or the inability of some of its establishments to pay employees’ wages due to the scarcity of financial resources. He said that the Custodian of the Tow Holy Mosque’s order to provide the support through the SANID system will ensure continuation of contractual relationship between the worker and employer. The employee will not lose his job and at the same time the employer is not obligated to pay the salary of the employee who receives the support. He went on saying that there are certain conditions that will be addressed later.
The main objective of the financial support is to compensate employees, through SANID (the unemployment insurance system), 60% of the wage registered with GOSI for a duration of three months, at a maximum of SR9,000 in accordance with the provided terms and conditions, according to Al-Wehibi. The financial support aims to help the employee keep his job and after the end of the three months period and after the containment of the pandemic, Allah willing, the companies will be able to pay salaries of their employees. He added that compensation requests will be through GOSI’s web site starting on Wednesday April 8th, 2020. The first payment to the beneficiaries will begin on May 1st, 2020, as the eligible establishments must apply for this support, and if approved, a message will be sent to the subscriber to submit the application and obtain the support. The application process is simple and most of the private sector establishments will be covered with the exception of few establishments exempted by the Monetary Agency or the financial sector licensed by the Capital Market Authority, as well as the food retail and telecommunication sectors, which are not affected by consequences of COVID-19, Al-Wehibi added.
He mentioned that the number of the private sector workers qualified for compensation amounted to 500,200,000 Saudis. SANID covers 100 percent of Saudis employed in companies that have five workers or less and covers up to 70 percent of firms where the number of Saudi workers exceeds five.