JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s COVID-19 case numbers have been seesawing throughout this month, with the latest official figures showing that recoveries are on the rise while active and critical cases are dipping.
The Ministry of Health reported 1,301 new infections on Saturday, bringing the overall total to 482,003.
Makkah had 306 new cases, Riyadh had 298, the Eastern Province had 225, and Asir had 185. Jouf reported four new infections in the past 24 hours.
There were 1,376 new recoveries reported, raising the total to 463,004, while the number of critical cases fell by 16 to 1,450. The number of active cases has lowered to 11,239.
There were 17 additional deaths due to complications from COVID-19, raising the toll to 7,760.
There were 92,192 PCR tests conducted in the past 24 hours, raising the total to more than 21.5 million. More than 17.1 million vaccine doses have been administered to date at a rate of 85,176 per day, with 49.1 percent of the Kingdom’s population having received at least one dose.

Health officials continue to reiterate the importance of adhering to precautionary measures, encouraging everyone to get the jab to accelerate the inoculation drive’s progress in order to return to normality.
Testing hubs and treatment centers set up throughout the country have dealt with hundreds of thousands of people since the onset of the pandemic.
Taakad centers provide COVID-19 testing for those who show no or only mild symptoms or believe they have come into contact with an infected individual.
Tetamman clinics offer treatment and advice to those with virus symptoms such as fever, loss of taste and smell, and breathing difficulties. Appointments for both services can be made via the ministry’s Sehhaty app.
Meanwhile, Municipalities throughout Saudi Arabia have ramped up efforts to monitor compliance with health and safety measures introduced to help stop the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The Eastern Province municipality recently carried out 1,267 inspection tours in one day at shopping malls, commercial centers, and stores.
Checks resulted in six commercial outlets being shut down, while 54 violators were issued with penalties for ignoring health regulations.
The violations varied between noncompliance with social distancing and wearing a mask, leniency in measuring the temperature of customers, overcrowding issues and failure to effectively use the Tawakkalna app.
The municipality said it had received 28 reports of violations. It urged all commercial facilities to respect and abide by regulations to ensure public safety and prevent the virus from spreading.