Saudi Arabia steps up inspection tours for virus violations

JEDDAH: Jeddah municipality is working with the Saudi authorities to intensify its field inspection tours on the waterfront during the first days of Eid Al-Fitr to check for violations of the precautionary measures against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The municipality teams carried out 180 inspection tours that detected 69 violations and closing nine sites.

The municipality has put in place field plans to cover the North Corniche, Saif Beach, the Palestine Street Promenade and the Central Corniche, using the necessary equipment to clean the sites at regular intervals, in addition to carrying out intensive sanitization campaigns in seating areas, children’s playgrounds and disinfecting waste containers.

It stressed that it will step up joint field efforts with relevant authorities in the markets, waterfronts and public facilities to follow up on compliance with health preventive measures to control the spread of the virus, especially during the Eid days that are witnessing large turnouts of visitors.

The municipality urged people to comply with precautionary procedures and report any violations on the toll-free number 940 or the “Balady” mobile app.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia reported 12 more COVID-19-related deaths on Friday. The death toll now stands at 7,134.

The Ministry of Health reported 927 new cases, meaning that 431,432 people have now contracted the disease. Of these, 8,551 remain active, 1,323 of them in critical condition.

According to the ministry, 265 of the newly recorded cases were in Riyadh, 262 in Makkah, 128 in the Eastern Province and 69 in Madinah.

In addition, 1,608 patients had recovered from the disease, bringing the total to 415,747 recoveries.

Saudi Arabia has so far conducted 17,868,871 PCR tests, with 56,495 carried out in the past 24 hours.

Saudi health clinics set up by the ministry as testing hubs or treatment centers have helped hundreds of thousands of people around the Kingdom since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

Among those testing hubs are Taakad (make sure) centers and Tetamman (rest assured) clinics.

Taakad centers provide COVID-19 testing for those who show no or mild symptoms or believe they have come into contact with an infected individual, while the Tetamman clinics offer treatment and advice to those with virus symptoms, such as fever, loss of taste and smell and breathing difficulties.

Appointments for either services can also be made through the ministry’s Sehhaty app.

Saudis and expats in the Kingdom continue to receive their COVID-19 jabs, with 11,253,029 people inoculated so far.