The Assistant Minister of Health and MOH spokesman, Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdulaali, affirmed that the Kingdom is playing a pioneering and important role as well as providing global contribution with regard to the clinical researches and studies to have access to additional information. It has taken steps towards the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) treatments through its distinguished Saudi cadres leading the field of research as the Kingdom's ranking is 25th globally, 2nd in the Middle East and first among Arab countries in conducting COVID-19 scientific papers. A number of research centers and teams from different heath sectors in the Kingdom are taking part in these studies.
He revealed that 323 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Kingdom, bringing the total cases to 339,267. These include 8,894 active cases, still receiving medical care. Their health status is mostly stable, with the exception of 826 critical cases.
Al-Abdulaali made this statement during the COVID-19 brief held on today (Sunday), which also hosted the Assistant Deputy Minister for Preventive Health, Dr. Abdullah Asiri.
He pointed out that 593 cases have been recovered, bringing the total recoveries to 325,330 cases, all praise is due to Allah. Also, 25 new deaths have been reported; bringing the total deaths to 5,043. Moreover, 38,239 new lab tests for COVID-19 have been conducted in the Kingdom’s laboratories, bringing the total to 7,014,780.
About 42% of the new reported cases are females, and 58% are males. Only 3% of the cases are older persons, 12% are children, and 85% are adults. He said the upcoming press conference will be held next Sunday.
Regarding the epidemiological analysis, he said MOH continues to monitor the drop in the curve of the critical cases in the Kingdom.
Most of the cases discharged from the ICU, nearly 2/3 of the total cases, get improved and almost recovered as they are responding to therapeutic intervention.
For his part Asiri underlined the importance of scientific researching as an integral part of responding to novel diseases, especially the infectious diseases. He pointed that the researches are divided into epidemiological and basic researches, as well as therapeutic researches, including those related to medication and vaccines in the near future.
During the past weeks, the Kingdom has participated in one of the most important studies, the treatment with blood plasma, he said, pointing that the idea is not new and have been used to treat SARS1 and the first Coronavirus.
He said a distinguished scientific team from various sectors began their researching on this treatment option, pointing out that a patient who has recovered from Coronavirus can donate his blood plasma. The outcomes of the study, which was conducted on infected and uninfected peoples, look promising with a good response especially from those with serious complications.