Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The upward trend in the daily coronavirus infections in the Kingdom continued on Sunday with the health ministry announcing 2,736 new cases as Saudi Arabia intensifies its testing capabilities to provide between 15,000 and 18,000 tests a day. Sunday's figures bring the total number of cases in the country to 54,752.

Out of the newly reported cases, women make up 22 percent and men make up 78 percent. Meanwhile, Saudi citizens make up 40 percent of the new infections, while non-Saudis make up 60 percent.

There were 2,056 recoveries on Sunday, taking the overall number of recovered cases to 25,722, spokesman Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdel Ali was quoted by Saudi Press Agency (SPA) as saying.

Ten people of different nationalities died of the virus in the last 24 hours, health ministry spokesman Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdel Ali was quoted by Saudi Press Agency (SPA) as saying.

Those who died lived in Jeddah, Madinah, Al-Kharj, Makkah, Riyadh, and Nairyah, and were between the age of 26 and 60 years, he added. The number of fatalities now stand at 312.

Makkah with 557 cases topped the list on Sunday. It was followed by Riyadh with 488 cases, 392 in Madinah, 357 in Jeddah, 286 in Dammam and 149 each in Hufof and Al-Jubail. There were 81 new infections in Taif, 51 in Al-Khobar, 24 in Qatif, 18 in Tabuk, 15 each in Dhahran and Baish, 14 in Bisha and 12 in Buraidah.

The rest about 130 cases were reported from different small cities and villages across the Kingdom.

The spokesman said the ministry was using contact tracing to determine how people were infected. The method has shown that hundreds of people were infected after failing to adhere to precautionary measures and attending large social gatherings.

He urged the public to maintain social distancing practices and to refrain from visiting friends and extended family members to prevent the spread of the virus.