More than 15,000 potential coronavirus cases found through app in Saudi Arabia

JEDDAH: More than 600,000 people took a self-evaluation exam through a Saudi Ministry of Health app, with more than 15,000 potential coronavirus cases found through the online process.

The Ministry of Health’s spokesman Dr. Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly called on everyone to abide by precautionary measures and to also use the self-evaluation process.

He reiterated the importance of self-evaluation, saying the free service was available for everyone and could be used to help the elderly or children.

“There are similarities in symptoms between COVID-19 and other illnesses that are less dangerous,” he said. “The application helps us attain additional information and contact specialized health professionals.”

Specialists found that a group of people from the 15,000 needed a laboratory examination to confirm if they were carrying the virus, and it was revealed that 268 of these lab tests were confirmed cases.

“The good thing about this is that it was discovered at its early stages,” said Al-Abd Al-Aly. “This gives a person the chance to protect those around him and lessens the chances of others coming into contact with them. He will also receive healthcare directly. Aside from the 15,000 potential cases, the other mentioned hundreds of thousands have the chance to be assured and calmed through this process.”

A total of 1,197 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the Kingdom on Saturday, meaning 16,299 people in Saudi Arabia have now contracted the disease. There were 13,948 active cases, 115 of them critical.

Most of the new recorded cases - 76 percent - were not Saudi.

Al-Aly announced there were 166 new recovered cases, taking the total number of recoveries to 2,215, while nine new deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 136.

The latest fatalities were two Saudis and seven expats in Jeddah and Makkah. They were aged between 33 and 77, and most of them had chronic illnesses.