Saudi Arabia reports 695 new Coronavirus cases

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Monday reported 695 new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), raising the total number to 393,377 since the pandemic began.

Riyadh region reported the highest number of new infections with 289, the Makkah region had 151, and the Eastern Province reported 108.

Monday’s lowest figures came from Najran, which reported only four new cases, followed by Baha with three.

There were 54 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs), raising the total number of patients in ICUs to 836.

Government spokesmen on Sunday attributed a rise in critical care patients to people breaching the health and safety protocols that were in place to curb the spread of the virus.

Saudi Arabia currently has 6,368 active cases, while the number of



patients recovering from COVID-19 has risen by 489 to 380,305.

There were seven further coronavirus-related deaths reported on Monday, raising the death toll to 6,704.

There have been 56,906 PCR tests conducted in the past 24 hours, pushing the total carried out so far to more than 15.4 million.

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority announced that a new batch of the coronavirus vaccines had arrived in the Kingdom, where they would be studied and evaluated before being approved for public use.

As of Monday, around 5.1 million COVID-vaccines had been administered at a pace of 119,772 a day.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs said that 14 mosques in four regions had been temporarily closed after COVID-19 infections broke out among worshippers.