The Assistant Minister of Health and MOH spokesman, Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdulaali, stated that more than three-quarters of COVID-19 infections are due to social gatherings and we have monitored many worrisome issues that oblige us to exercise a high degree of caution as many countries of the world are witnessing a hike in the confirmed cases. He underlined the importance of adhering to precautionary measures.
Since the mid of January we have noticed a surge in the critical cases by 20%, he said, attributing such an increase to the lack of compliance with the precautionary measures. He said that more than 440,000 peoples have received the vaccine so far.
He said that 261 new confirmed cases of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) have been reported in the Kingdom; thus bringing the total number to 368,074 confirmed cases, including 2,126 active cases, receiving the necessary medical care. Of these, there are 362 critical cases, while the health condition of the rest is stable.
The MOH spokesman made this statement during the COVID-19 briefing held today (Sunday), which also hosted Dr. Ahmed Qattan, the Deputy Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs for Contractor Classification. Al-Abdulaali stated that 274 new recoveries have been recorded, bringing the total recoveries to 359,573 cases, all praise is due to Allah. Also, 3 new deaths have been reported; bringing the total deaths to 6,375, May Allah bestow His mercy upon them. He pointed out that the health services are still provided through all MOH’s facilities, with 6,777,226 Molecular Diagnostic Tests «Swab Tests» at Make Sure «Taakkad» Centers, 1,882,717 patients were served at Rest Assured «Tetamman» Clinics, in addition to offering medical consultations via 937-Service Center to 26,841,907 beneficiaries. Moreover, 36,964 new Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19 have been conducted; bringing the total number to 12,295,687 PCR tests in the Kingdom’s laboratories.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Labor Housing Committee spokesman, Dr. Qattan said that we have conducted 34,000 field visits to the worker housings through 3 paths (short, medium, and long-term path), with 1,710,000 laborers, providing 17,900 isolation rooms for those suspected with COVID-19 symptoms, and 84,000 laborers were transferred to new buildings.
On the medium-term path, which aims to ensure that the existing properties follow the safety and health instructions, he said that a number of properties have been licensed with a capacity of 154,900 workers.
During the inspection visits, 30,000 violations have been reported for the labor camps in the first visit, increasing to 40,000 in the second visit and 50,000 in the third visit. On the long-term path, Qattan said that 84 projects with an area of 1.3 million meters have been provided on Forus (Opportunity) platform for those wishing to invest in labor camps. Already, 19 projects, with a total area of more than one million meters, have been awarded across the Kingdom.
Since it was formed, the food and markets monitoring committee has conducted 73,184 inspection visits and reported 1,946 violations, including lack of compliance with health measures at markets and commercial centers, overcrowded labor compounds, gatherings exceeding the permitted numbers, and failure to comply with the precautionary measures, he added. Dr. Qattan called upon all establishments to hurry up and register their properties on labor camps platform and (Baladi) platforms in order to avoid violations.