JEDDAH: As the health authorities in the Kingdom expanded the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination to include children aged 12-18, a large number of parents are registering their children through the ministry’s Tawakkalna app.

The Ministry of Health on Tuesday reaffirmed the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

The ministry also warned that COVID-19 infections have increased lately, mainly spread through social gatherings. Authorities continue to urge residents to adhere to social distancing measures, wearing masks, and adhering to preventive measures to curb the spread of the virus.

A total of 1,567 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the Kingdom on Tuesday, meaning 486,106 people in Saudi Arabia have now contracted the disease.

There were 11,724 active cases, 1,406 of them critical, a decline by 32 patients in the past 24 hours.

In addition, 1,032 new recovered cases were recorded, taking the total number of recoveries to 466,578, while 15 new deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 7,804.

Saudi Arabia’s recovery rate is currently at 95.9 percent.

The Kingdom has administered more than 17.6 million COVID-19 vaccines so far at a rate of 50.6 doses per hundred. More than 50 percent of the country’s population have been inoculated with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

There were 109,199 PCR tests carried out in the past 24 hours, raising the total number conducted in the Kingdom to more than 21.7 million.

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance carried out 23,366 inspection tours in the Kingdom’s mosques during the past week to follow up on the implementation of precautionary measures adopted by the ministry to prevent the spread of the virus, and to achieve the highest safety standards.

On Tuesday, the Najran Municipality carried out an intensive campaign that included markets and commercial centers, to ensure the application of precautionary and preventive measures, which resulted in the closure of 13 facilities that’d not meet the precautionary measures.