On Sunday morning, the COVID-19 Monitoring Committee held its 60th 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.
Following the meeting, Dr. Muhammad al-Abdulaali, MOH spokesman mentioned that the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide has amounted to more than 2,300,000 cases, of which more than 600,000 cases have recovered to date. As for the COVID-19 death toll, it has jumped to 160,000 deaths.
“Speaking of the Kingdom,” Al-Abdulaali said, “We have 1,088 new confirmed cases, of whom 83% are non-Saudis and 17% Saudis”. He mentioned that the new cases were reported in the following cities: 251 in Makkah, 210 in Jeddah, 194 in Dammam, 177 in Madinah, 123 in Al-Hafouf, 85 in Riyadh, 9 in Al-Zulfi, 7 in Taif, 6 in Yanbu, 4 in Hail, 4 in Dhahran, 3 in Unaizah, 3 in Jubail, 3 in Ras Tanurah, 2 in Tabuk, 2 in Rabegh, 1 in Al-Baha, 1 in Al_kharj, 1 in Alais, 1 in Bish, and 1 in Mahayel Assir.
The number of new recoveries is 69, bringing the total recoveries to 1,398 cases. And the number of new deaths is 5, bringing the total deaths to 97 cases. The new deaths are all non-Saudis, 4 in Makkah and 1 in Jeddah, and their ages between 37-64 years, he said.
He said that more than 180,000 people were tested for COVID-19 using the antigen and PCR testing, the most common kind of coronavirus test.
He mentioned that all laboratories involved in the COVID-19 testing are accredited by the Saudi Center for Disease Prevention and Control. They include state-of-the-art regional labs, affiliated to MOH, in addition to other government sectors hospitals and private sector hospitals.
He said that 892 cases or 82% of today’s confirmed cases were detected through the active testing (active surveillance). “The confirmed cases among non-Saudis are on constant rise, during the past three days the rate was 50% before yesterday, 65% yesterday and 85% today”, he explained.
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.