Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia on Saturday recorded 1,197 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 16,299, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The ministry also announced 9 more deaths and 166 new recoveries, raising the total number of fatalities and recoveries 136 and 2,215 respectively.

Makkah with 364 cases topped the list, followed by 271 cases in Jeddah, 170 in Riyadh, 120 in Madinah, 45 in Al-Khobar and 43 in Dammam.

There were 34 cases in Hufof, 27 in Taif, 26 in Jubail, 20 in Baish, 17 in Buraidah, 13 in Yanbu, 12 in Al-Mithnab, six each in Baha and Sajir, five each in Arar, Al-Muzahimya, two each in Al-Makhwa and Tabuk, one each in Khamis Mushayt, Unaizah, Bin Malik, Trubh, Qunfudah, Kharj and Al-Zulfi.

A total of 115 cases are in a “critical condition” and are in the ICU, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted the ministry’s spokesman Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdel Ali as saying.

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Health Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said earlier this week that the spike in the number of daily reported coronavirus cases is due to cases being detected by the expanded field testing programs.

Medical teams have been conducting mass coronavirus screenings in neighborhoods across the Kingdom since last Friday to ensure that cases are detected early.

“Instead of waiting for someone to tell us that they have been infected and having to isolate all those who had direct contact with them, we go to the neighborhoods that we feel might have a lot of cases. We go to homes, we go to residential complexes so we can discover the cases before they come to us,” Al-Rabiah said.