Coronavirus cases increase as curfew and lockdown ease in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi government relaxed the curfew and lockdown from May 26 after a nationwide curfew for more than 20 days.

The Saudi government had partially lifted the curfew in all states and territories except Makkah.

However, with the easing of curfew and lockdown, there has been an increase in cases of coronavirus, with more than 1,800 new cases reported in the 24 hours between June 2 and June 3.

The Saudi spokesman of the Ministry of Health, Dr Muhammad Al-Abd Al-Ali, confirmed that 1869 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours across the country.

According to the spokesperson, after the new cases, the total number of cases in the country has crossed 89,000 while 138 people have succumbed to the disease in the last week.

The spokesman said the death toll in Saudi Arabia had risen to 549 since the new deaths, with 17,340 patients recovering in the past week.

According to the spokesman, 70% of the patients have recovered in Saudi Arabia and the total number of recovered patients has reached 65,790.

Spokesman Dr Muhammad al-Abd al-Ali said there were currently only 22,667 patients with coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, of whom 1,264 were in critical condition.

A spokesman for the health ministry did not link the country’s growing cases to easing curfews or lockdowns, saying the ministry was spending all resources to control the Pandemic.

The Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah was also reopened on May 31, and for the first time in about 45 days, citizens entered the mosque and offered prayers.

A statement issued by the two holy shrines said that 93,774 worshipers offered prayers on the first day of the opening of the Prophet’s Mosque.

The report said that 11 doors of Masjid-e-Nabawi were opened an hour before the morning prayers on May 31 and all worshipers were allowed to enter the mosque only after taking strict security measures.

On the first day of the opening of the mosque, more than 40,000 worshipers offered Maghrib prayers and social distancing was practised during the prayers.

It should be noted that other mosques in Saudi Arabia, including the Prophet’s Mosque, were closed on March 20, but after May 30 and 31, thousands of mosques in Saudi Arabia were reopened.

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