JEDDAH: The Saudi Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that 10 of the country’s newly recorded COVID-19 cases were due to the negligence of preventive measures in the workplace, according to a report from Al-Ekhbariya.
The ministry reminded people about the importance of social distancing and wearing a mask as it was still a critical time and the pandemic was not yet over.
It has launched a COVID-19 drive-through testing facility on Jeddah’s corniche as part of its efforts to combat and contain the spread of the virus.
Al-Ekhbariya reported that the service would become fully operational in two days, from 8 a.m. to midnight, with a secondary station opening up at Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz University by next week.
Saudis and expatriates can secure an appointment through the ministry’s Sehaty app, and provide the on-call doctor at one of the stations with their QR appointment code to get the Polymerase Chain Reaction test.
The corniche drive-through hosts 12 stations that can support 5,000 visitors once it is fully operational.
Saudi Arabia recorded 39 new COVID-19-related deaths on Wednesday, raising the total to 1,091.
There were 4,919 new cases reported, meaning 141,234 people have now contracted the disease. There are 48,481 active cases, 1,859 of them are in critical condition.
According to the ministry, 2,371 of the newly recorded cases were in Riyadh, while Jeddah recorded 279 and Makkah recorded 282.
The ministry also announced that 2,122 more patients had recovered from coronavirus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 91,662.
Saudi Arabia has so far conducted 1.167 million tests for COVID-19, 23,484 of which were carried out on Wednesday.
The ministry said that dexamethasone, a medicine from the cortisone family, is accredited to be used within the treatment protocol for COVID-19 patients. It has begun prescribing this medicine to inpatients who need oxygen in intensive care units (ICU).
There is a current study that says dexamethasone reduces 35 percent of COVID-19-related deaths of inpatients using ventilators in ICUs, adding that this medicine also reduces deaths by about 20 percent for patients who need oxygen and are not on ventilators.
The ministry confirmed that it updates the treatment protocol of COVID-19 patients through specialist scientific committees.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce and Investment continued with its field trips to monitor commercial fraud and concealment, an illegal business practice that enables non-Saudi individuals or businesses to invest or engage in business activities they are prohibited from.
“Our teams have documented 20,000 violations. More than 5,000 establishments were fined for price manipulation. The highest price increases were in the food sector, followed closely by health supplies, such as face masks and hand sanitizers,” the ministry’s spokesman, Abdulrahman bin Mohammed Al-Hussein, told Al-Ekhbariya.
He urged people to report any price increases, specifically in stores without electronic payment services as that often implied the establishment was involved in commercial concealment.