Riyadh, April 07, 2020, SPA:
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.