On Friday morning, the COVID-19 Monitoring Committee held its 51st meeting. Chaired by the Minister of Health, Dr. Tawfik 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. Meanwhile, the Committee commended the citizens’ compliance with the curfew, and called on them to stay home, and refrain from going unless 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, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Rowsa, General Authority of Civil Aviation spokesman and Ms. Noor Alabdulkarim Director of Marketing & Strategic Partnerships, the Social Development Bank.
MOH spokesman, Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdulaali, stated that the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide has surpassed 1,600,000 cases, of whom 361,235 cases have recovered. As for the COVID-19 death toll, it has jumped to 97,000 deaths.
“364 new COVID-19 cases have been reported in the Kingdom,” said Al-Abdulaali. He mentioned that the new cases were recorded in the following cities: 90 in Makkah, 78 in Madinah, 69 in Riyadh, 54 in Jeddah, 22 in Tabuk, 12 in Al-Qatif, 9 in Buraidah, 6 in Dammam, 5 in Al-Hafouf, 4 in Taif, 3 in Al-Kharj, 2 in Dhahran, 2 in Al-Qunfudah, 2 in Yanbu, 1 in Jubail, 1 in Khalis, 1 in Diriyah, 1 in Ras Tanura, 1 in Al-Henakiy and 1 in Arar. This brings the total cases tested positive for COVID-19 in the Kingdom up to 3,651 cases, of whom 2,919 cases are active cases, receiving medical care, and their health condition is mostly stable; with the exception of 57 cases receiving intensive care. The number of new recoveries is 19, bringing the total recoveries to 685 cases. And the number of new deaths is 3, bringing the total COVID-19 deaths in the Kingdom to 47.
The MOH spokesman 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 her part, Ms. Noor Alabdulkarim Director of Marketing & Strategic Partnerships, the Social Development Bank said that the bank, with the support of the National Development Fund and in partnership of all ministries, organizations and government funds, has launched a program to help mitigate the financial and economic impacts of the fight against COVID-19 on small and emerging enterprises. The bank has allocated SR 13 billion, to support individuals with SR 4 billion, family and micro businesses with SR 1 billion. The other SR 8 billion program includes 4 tracks to support facilities. In the first track, SR 2 billion was added to the budget allocated to support small and emerging enterprises for this year 2020.
In the second track, SR2 billion was allocated to support the financing portfolio with the aim of providing more liquidity and greater diversification of the financing products provided to customers. The third track, SR 2 billion, includes supporting the facilities financed by the bank by rescheduling the funds and postponing payment of installments due for a period of 6 months, with the aim of mitigating the financial burden on their establishments, said Ms. Alabdulkarim.
In the fourth track, she said, SR 2 billion was allocated to support 1,000 health facilities in different health fields, including medical complexes, medical industries, specialized clinics, consulting clinics, radiology centers, one-day clinics, medical laboratories, home healthcare centers, emergency medicine, rehabilitation, preventive health and medical services.
Ms. Alabdulkarim pointed out that the financing of the health facilities includes providing flexible financing ceilings commensurate with the nature of their activities, noting that the bank will provide the existing medium enterprises in the health sector with a financing ceiling of SR 10 million for a facility.
She said that since the portfolio to finance the healthcare facilities was launched on April 8, the bank has received more than 60 applications, she said hoping that the portfolio will help the facilities to boost their operation and services.
The bank has launched more than 6 e-platforms and trained over 200 employees at 27 branches across the Kingdom to facilitate and expedite the applications, she added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Rowsa, General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) spokesman, said that the authority has intensified efforts to ensure the safe return of citizens wishing to return to the Kingdom. It has set up an operating room to monitor and follow-up the return of citizens in cooperation with the relevant government agencies, 24/7.
He said GACA has completed preparations of the three international airports (King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam). It coordinates with the national carrier, Saudi Arabian Airlines to arrange and schedule flights, which will include the following destinations during the first stage: Jakarta, Washington, Kuala Lumpur, Mauritius, Muscat, London, Manila, Colombo, Maldives and New York.
GACA, in cooperation with MOH, has developed a set of precautionary and preventive measures to be in effect at the departure airport until the citizen gets in a ground transport at the arrival airport, Al-Rowsa added.