• Highest daily recovery count recorded since start of pandemic

Rawan Radwan

JEDDAH: The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and critical care admissions in Saudi Arabia saw a slight decrease on Tuesday, according to a Ministry of Health spokesman.

Dr. Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Ali told a regular press briefing that the number of daily confirmed cases were stabilizing and had decreased since last week’s count. This week’s numbers are between 2,000-3,000.

“We’ve also noticed the number of critical care patients (admitted to ICUs) has decreased by 1.5 percent since last week,” he said. “As we adhere to the precautionary measures and health protocols, we’ll surely be heading toward a more positive outcome.”

The spokesman said that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests would continue and were being conducted and analyzed to the highest standards. More than 2.37 million PCR tests have been conducted so far and 40,799 were carried out in the past 24 hours.

Saudi Arabia recorded 7,718 new recoveries from COVID-19 on Tuesday, the highest daily recovery count in the Kingdom since the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic on March 11. 

The recovery rate has increased to 74.6 percent, with the number of recoveries reaching 177,560. The highest daily recovery count was recorded over a month ago when it passed 5,200.

Saudi Arabia recorded 2,692 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, raising the number of confirmed cases so far to 237,803 since the beginning of the pandemic. There are currently 57,960 active cases in the Kingdom, with 2,230 people in critical care.

Jeddah recorded the highest number of confirmed cases with 263, followed by Al-Hofuf with 220 and Riyadh with 211. There were 40 new fatalities, raising the number of deaths to 2,283.

Meanwhile, 132 people have been treated through blood plasma samples from recovered patients of COVID-19. The initiative was launched in April and aims at testing the effectiveness of plasma in treating advanced cases of the disease.

The ministry said preliminary results showed that the treatment posed no danger to patients and was effective, especially on patients in the early stages of infection.

Antibodies in plasma play an important role in helping the human body to recover from serious health issues. Recovered patients willing to participate in the study are allowed to do so after the second sample test results are negative and they have completed their 14-day home quarantine.

Saudi health authorities announced 40 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the Kingdom’s death toll from the virus to 2,283.