Saudi Arabia reminds residents of fines for violating health rules

JEDDAH: Amid rising cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has reiterated that failure to adhere to precautionary measures will lead to fines and closures, reminding residents that stricter measures could be put in place if they do not comply.

The MoI is reminding citizens and expats to remain vigilant as the country has gone above the 500 case mark for the second day in a row. The number of patients in critical care is also increasing every day.

The penalty for noncompliance with social distancing measures and temperature self-assessment requirements when entering government buildings or businesses will lead to a SR1,000 ($266) fine. The penalty is doubled in the event of repetition.

The Ministry of Health said the rise in numbers is being caused by gatherings exceeding the accepted numbers and people not committing to precautionary measures. The stern note has called on residents to be careful and “don’t pay the price of complacency.”

A total of 502 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the Kingdom on Saturday, meaning 387,794 people in Saudi Arabia have now contracted the disease. There are 4,593 active cases, with 635 of them in critical condition.

There were 355 new recoveries, taking the total to 376,558, while six new deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 6,643.

Saudi Arabia has administered more than 4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses so far, at a rate of 136,962 per day. There have been 46,328 PCR tests conducted in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of tests in the Kingdom to over 14.9 million.