Health Minister: Increasing Numbers of COVID-19 Infections in the Coming Period Primarily Depends on Everyone's Cooperation and Commitment to Instructions

Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah confirmed that increasing the number of infections with the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the coming period primarily depends on the cooperation of all and their commitment to guidelines and instructions, warning that some of the society's members did not adhere to the slogan "We are all responsible".
Dr Al-Rabiah affirmed that some people did not seriously deal with this epidemic, adding that they didn't adhere to the warnings banning contacting and gatherings.
"I will start my speech with what the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques said: 'the next stage will be more difficult at the global level'. As a part of this world which exerts unprecedented efforts and measures to combat the Coronavirus pandemic and in spite of the COVID-19 rapid developments and spread, the leadership of our country was a global pioneer in taking strict precautionary measures, including suspension of Umrah and prayers in mosques; suspension of domestic and international flights; suspension of attendance to the workplaces, and suspension of the study, before many countries to start taking any preventive measures. These measures aimed to decline contacting with others with 90%. With the utmost transparency and clarity, the state also dealt with this crisis and provided the latest developments to the citizen," Al-Rabiah said.
"Let me speak to you frankly, even if it hurts. Unfortunately, some members of society did not apply the slogan" We are all responsible", and did not seriously deal with this epidemic. They also didn't adhere to the warnings banning contacting and gatherings as you have seen such practices and behaviors in the past days. These practices indicate that we need to take other measures to safeguard us and protect the society from these people. We witness today a decisive moment in assuming responsibility as a society. We must seriously and decisively stop the spread of this pandemic. Otherwise, the expectations in the coming days point out that the numbers of infections are not decreasing, but are constantly increasing," he said.
He pointed out that increasing numbers of infections in the coming period primarily depends on your cooperation and commitment to the guidelines and instructions.
"Emanating from the principle of transparency, I share with you the outcomes of four different studies conducted by Saudi and international experts specializing in the field of epidemics. These studies estimated that the number of infections during the next few weeks will be between 10,000 infections at the minimum level, up to 200,000 infections at the highest level. There is no doubt that our strict and full commitment to instructions and measures will decline the number of infections to the minimum. Lack of commitment, an enormous increase in the number of infections will be jumped," he said.
He said that the studies have indicated that the 24-hout traffic is still very high as it is now 46% of the total traffic on the normal days.
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17:08 LOCAL TIME 14:08 GMT
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