Saudi Health Ministry grants pregnant women sick leave to avoid virus risks

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health has announced a compulsory two-week sick leave for pregnant women.
The leave has also been granted to people with respiratory and chronic diseases, tumors and immunodeficiency who are workers in both the private and public sectors.

Dr. Tawfig Al-Rabiah said the committee tasked to monitor coronavirus developments will “implement a package of preventive measures to prevent societal outbreaks."

The committee “obliges all governmental and private sectors to grant compulsory sick leave of two weeks from its date and that it is not calculated from the leave balance for all employees who meet these conditions.”

The sick leave is part of precautionary measures aimed at reducing the numbers of patients infected with the coronavirus in Saudi Arabia.