Saudi Arabia sees slight surge in daily COVID cases

Riyadh: After a gap of one week, there has been a slight increase in active covid cases in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom confirmed 1,226 new cases in the previous 24 hours, meaning 504,960 people have now contracted the disease.

As per the Ministry of Health's database, the kingdom also recorded 14 new COVID-19 related deaths on Wednesday, raising the total number of fatalities to 8,020.

Of the total number of cases, 10,929 remain active and 1,430 in critical condition.

According to the ministry, the highest number of cases were recorded in the capital Riyadh with 334, followed by Makkah with 260, the Eastern Province with 158, Asir recorded 140, and Jazan confirmed 93 cases.

The health ministry also announced that 1,128 patients had recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries in the Kingdom to 486,011.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry on Tuesday said that 50 per cent of the population had been immunised with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, stressing the need to take the second jab to give greater immunity, and to protect against coronavirus mutations.

The ministry had also announced the resumption of inoculating people of all age groups with the second dose of the vaccine, according to the national plan.

Earlier it had confirmed that mixing approved vaccines in the Kingdom was safe and effective, according to international research and specialized scientific committees.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs reopened seven mosques in five regions after temporarily evacuating and sterilizing them after seven people tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of mosques closed and reopened after being sterilized to 1,842 within 158 days.

The coronavirus pandemic has affected over 188 million people globally and the death toll has reached around 4.06 million.