RIYADH — Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdel Ali, spokesman of the Ministry of Health, said on Sunday that the curve of confirmed cases of coronavirus increased by 286 percent since the day when the lowest level of cases was reported until this date. Addressing the daily press conference to brief on the latest coronavirus situation, the spokesman said that scientists around the world are focusing on four basic mutated strains of coronavirus. "The global and local studies have revealed that more than 80 percent of the coronavirus infections are reported following family events, weddings and restaurant gatherings," he said. He warned against gatherings in public places and a lack of compliance of preventive protocols mainly keeping social distance. Dr. Al-Abdel Ali urged the public not to indulge in humor while circulating reports related to the pandemic as it might hurt the feelings of those who lost their loved ones as victims of the virus. The spokesman said that a total of 443,153 doses of anti-coronavirus vaccine have already been administered and that the ministry considered that the AstraZeneca vaccine is one of the most used vaccines of which the results are promising. He emphasized that the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) is committed to ensure the efficacy and safety of the vaccine, before granting approval to it. "Any vaccine developed around the world must pass registration and approval procedures from SFDA and before that it cannot be used in the Kingdom. "The authority will announce the new vaccines after going through all its strict procedures following the submission of request from the manufacturing companies to obtain registration from the authority," he said.
