Saudi Arabia Distributes 9 Million COVID-19 Vaccines Doses

Gulf

April 30th, 7:33am

Riyadh - Asharq Al-Awsat

Saudi Arabia has distributed 9 million vaccine shots. (SPA)

Amid an increase in the number of critical COVID-19 cases, Saudi Arabia has accelerated the delivery of vaccines across its territories with over nine million doses distributed in the past five days. The Saudi Health Ministry tweeted on Thursday that over nine million shots have been administered across the Kingdom at more than 587 centers. Health officials are urging all citizens and residents to book appointments to receive the vaccine. The Health Ministry called on people to register to receive the vaccine through the Sehaty application. On Thursday, the Ministry reminded that all citizens and residents over the age of 75 are allowed to get the vaccine without booking an appointment. The Kingdom aims to cover 70 percent of the country's population - that has not yet contracted Covid-19 - by the end of 2021. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry recorded 1,026 new virus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 416,307, including 9,852 active cases. Of these, 1,312 are critical cases. It reported 11 new deaths, raising the toll to 6,946. Meanwhile, as many as 1,055 cases have recovered, taking the total to 399,509. Accordingly, the Ministry warned citizens to continue to comply with health measures as active and critical cases continue to rise. Also on Thursday, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance temporarily closed 34 mosques in nine regions after detecting 34 COVID-19 infections among worshippers. In the past 81 days, Saudi Arabia closed around 901 mosques of which 862 were reopened after completing disinfection procedures.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2947471/saudi-arabia-distributes-9-million-covid-19-vaccines-doses