Minister of Health Dr. Taufiq bin Fozan Al-Rabia'h presided over the 80th meeting of Covid-19 pandemic's follow up committee held here today. Following the meeting, Assistant to the minister of health and the Official Spokesman of the ministry Dr. Mohammed Al-Abdulali made the daily briefings, saying that the newly confirmed cases reported in the Kingdom is 1704, breaking them down as follows: 417 in Makkah, 316 in Riyadh, 265 in Jeddah, 112 in Madinah, 111 in Dammam, 107 in Taif, 67 in Jubail, 54 in Khobar, with lesser numbers across the Kingdom other towns. The new announced cases raised the total of confirmed cases in the Kingdom to 37,136 cases, 26753 are active cases undergoing medical remedy and as they remain stable, but there are 140 critical cases, too, he added. Of the newly confirmed cases, 30 per cent were Saudi nationals and 70 per cent were expatriate, he said. Gender-wise, 18 per cent were females and the rest 82 were male, he stated, pointing that according to age category 4 per cent were for the aged, 6 per cent were children and 90 per cent for the adults. The toll for the recovered reached 10144 and the deaths rose to 239, as 10 new cases were added, all of them were not Saudi nationals, in Makkah, Riyadh, Jeddah, Jubail, with ages ranging from 32 to 66 years old, he elaborated. Dr. Al-Abdulali pointed out that communication service center no.: 937 is working around the clock and is at reach of anyone, especially that it is now at avail on the Watts Up application via no.0920005937, to take advantage of new interactive services and acquiring medical services and information related to the pandemic, first medical care centers, donating blood and appointments to get them. Extended checkup and test campaign shall be carried out, in phases, he announced, which was begun with the a guided proactive mopping and now we moved to the second phase through inviting those who have undergone self-assessment through laboratory testing application. On the other hand, he dismissed news items widely circulated alleging that some anti-tuberculosis vaccines are proven to mitigate the symptoms of Covid-19 or thwart the virus, stressing that such allegations are scientifically unfounded and baseless, as they remain to run further studies and research before proven to be true, adding that the recovery period ranges from 2-day to 5-week, following the disappearance of the symptoms, in the long term. Ministry of Health Spokesman concluded by reiterating the call to the public to stay at home and abide by the sanitary instructions, as the main protection against novel Covid-19 and renewed recommending all those who may show some symptoms, want to run self-assessment on Maueid app., enquire or consult on no.: 937 around the clock.
