Saudi Arabia’s National Medical Care Company’s (CARE) outpatient traffic has dropped as a result of the precautionary measures taken in the kingdom to face the coronavirus pandemic.

Care is carrying out an impact assessment with respect to restrictions imposed by the Saudi government to contain the spread of the virus.

“Until now the Company has witnessed drop in outpatient traffic, however, there are plans and alternatives in place to mitigate the drop going forward,” the Saudi-listed company said in a statement on Tadawul.

Care is the owner and operator of Riyadh Care Hospital (RCH), Care National Hospital (CNH) and Family HealthCare Center (FHCC).

The kingdom has extended this week a curfew aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus until further notice.

Care’s management believes that it is too early to assess the fiscal year (FY) impact of such restrictions.

“The Company has sufficient cash to continue to fund its operations for the foreseeable future without significant disruptions,” the statement said.

Saudi Arabia announced 435 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 5,369.

In March, the kingdom announced stimulus packages totaling 120 Saudi billion riyals ($32 billion) to offset the impact on businesses due to the coronavirus. The relief package includes a 50-billion-riyal package to support small and medium-sized businesses.

In the first week of April, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered an additional 9 billion riyals to pay part of the wages of private-sector workers to deter companies from laying off staff during the pandemic.

(Writing by Gerard Aoun, editing by Seban Scaria)

(gerard.aoun@refinitiv.com)

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