The Assistant Minister of Health and MOH spokesman, Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdulaali, confirmed that, in the past two weeks, the Kingdom has noticed a rise in the number of COVID-19 critical cases by almost 7%, describing the current phase as stable. “The large number of cases recorded in Madinah is attributed to social events and noncompliance of community members with the health protocols”, he said
With the spread of the second wave, many countries around the world are tightening coronavirus restrictions, including wearing face mask and preventing gatherings, as well as measures followed at ports, partial and full curfew and halting some activities, he added.
Al-Abdulaali explained that the main reason behind the surge in coronavirus infections in some world countries is the noncompliance of community members with the health instructions. He said 95% of swab testing completed on the same day and few tests take more time to ensure the accuracy of results.
The MOH spokesman made this statement during the COVID-19 briefing held on Sunday, which also hosted Dr. Ahmed Qattan, the Deputy Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs for Contractor Classification and Labor Housing Committee spokesman.
Al-Abdulaali stated that 305 new confirmed cases of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) have been reported in the Kingdom; thus bringing the total number to 353,255 confirmed cases, including 7,294 active cases, receiving the necessary medical care. Of these, there are 810 critical cases, while the health condition of the rest is stable. Also, 357 new recoveries have been recorded, bringing the total recoveries to 340,304 cases, all praise is due to Allah.
About 39% of the new reported cases are females, and 61% are males. Only 4% of the cases are older persons, 12% are children, and 84% are adults. Also, 16 new deaths have been reported; bringing the total deaths to 5,657, May Allah bestow His mercy upon them. Moreover, 44,855 new Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19 have been conducted; bringing the total number to 8,884,863 PCR tests in the Kingdom’s laboratories.
He pointed out that integrated health services are still provided through all MOH’s facilities, with 4,820,214 Molecular Diagnostic Tests «Swab Tests» at Make Sure «Taakkad» Centers, 1,532,833 patients were served at Rest Assured «Tetamman» Clinics, in addition to offering medical consultations via 937-Service Center to 21,403,183 beneficiaries.
For his part, Dr. Qattan said that the labor housing committee was formed by a royal order to organize the housings and decongest them. The 8-party committee is headed by the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, and membership of Ministry of Industry and Mineral resources, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Human resources and Social Development, Ministry of Health, Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu, and Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities.
The committee supervises the field visits to more than 32,000 houses with a capacity of about 1,600,000 workers. It has provided 17,000 isolation rooms at around 9,000 buildings, transferred more than 81,000 workers to 2,700 alternative buildings to reduce congestion, Qattan added.
He said that the technical and health requirements of the group housing have been updated last July 16, providing that an area of 4 square meters should be designated for a person, as well as maintaining the cleanliness of bathrooms and kitchens and providing an equipped isolation room for each housing. The owners of the facilities have been given a grace period of 5 months to modify the group housing. The requirements will be effective from the beginning of next January and violators will be penalized thereafter.
He called on all private facilities with labor housing to take precautionary measures and to get group housing license via “bilady” platform.