Saudi Arabia has reached the 20,000 mark as 1,266 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases were reported in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 20,077.
According to the Ministry of Health, experts have earlier warned that the cases could reach 10,000 to 200,000 in the next few weeks if residents do not take the precautionary measures seriously. Today, Minister of Health Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said they are expecting the number to further rise in the coming days.
This Ministry added that the total COVID-19 death toll in the Kingdom now stands at 152 after eight new fatalities were announced on April 21. The number of patients who have recovered, meanwhile, is now at 2,784.
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The Ministry of Health spokesman Dr. Muhammad Al-Abdel Ali said that new deaths are all of patients who had chronic illnesses before they were infected with the virus.
They added that number of cases will soar if a section of people in the country are not serious about following the orders of the government to alleviate the spread of the disease—such as staying at home, practicing social distancing, and observing proper hygiene.
In an interview with Saudi Press Agency, Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said that the increase in the number of cases depend on the cooperation of everyone in the Kingdom, noting that some members of the society are not dealing with the epidemic with “adequate seriousness.”
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