Rawan Radwan

JEDDAH: With the sudden rise in confirmed in COVID-19 cases in the Kingdom, Saudi Arabia’s Public Security Department reminded residents to remain vigilant as stricter measures rely on the public’s adherence.

In a video published on the department’s Twitter account with a hashtag “The decision is in your hands,” the simple and straightforward video showed Saudi Arabia’s empty streets and the jarring image of the empty courtyard around the Kaaba during last year’s lockdown.

On Saturday, 684 cases were confirmed, raising the total number of cases to 392,009.

Riyadh was the region with the most new cases at 320, Makkah had 131 cases and the Eastern Province 98 cases. Baha reported only 4 new cases.

The number of active cases passed the 6,000 mark, 761 of whom are in critical care units, a rise of 26 cases in the past 24 hours.

In addition, 439 new recoveries were reported, raising the total number of cases to 379,312. The Kingdom’s recovery rate is currently 96.7 percent.

Six new COVID-19 related fatalities were reported, raising the Kingdom’s death tally to 6,690.

On the vaccine front, Saudi Arabia administered nearly 4.9 million doses at a rate of 117,839 daily doses. Nearly 14 percent of the Kingdom’s population of 34.8 million have received their vaccinations.

More than 15.2 million PCR tests have been conducted in the Kingdom since the beginning of the pandemic, 53,777 of which conducted in the past 24 hours.

Thirteen mosques have been temporarily shut down in the past 24 hours across seven regions due to confirmed cases amongst worshippers. In total, 454 mosques have been temporarily shut over a period of nearly 2 months; 430 have since reopened after completing the necessary sanitization process.