Saudi Arabia Says It Could Reach 200,000 Coronavirus Infections

The new coronavirus could eventually infect between 10,000 and 200,000 people in Saudi Arabia, the King's Health Minister said on Tuesday, urging the public to stick more strictly to state guidelines against mixing and movement.

About 30 million people have recorded 2,795 cases and 41 deaths so far, the maximum in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), amid halting all passenger flights, suspending most economic operations and enforcing a 24-hour curfew in major cities, including the capital of Riyadh.

"We stand today at a decisive moment as a society in raising our sense of responsibility and contributing together with determination to stop the spread of this pandemic," Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah said in a rare televised address.

Four studies by infectious disease specialists suggested that the number of cases is expected to be between 10,000 and 200,000 over the coming weeks, he added. More than 1.3 million individuals globally have now been diagnosed by the infection.

Rabiah said that the 24-hour curfews enforced on Monday night were required because some did not take the risk of infection seriously, but left their homes and gathered in groups; the traffic on the road had fallen by barely 50 percent.

The interior ministry subsequently brought forward the start of curfew in all areas not already under a 24-hour lockdown to 3 pm from 7 pm.

Despite the new restrictions, many people were still moving about on Tuesday morning in Riyadh.

Rabiah said maintaining outbreaks at current rates for four to 12 months will allow the kingdom more time to plan to deter the epidemic from crippling the health system as it does in other countries.

King Salman approved another 7 billion riyals ($1.86 billion) for the Ministry of Health to fight the epidemic and another 32 billion will be disbursed by the end of the year, Rabiah said.

He said that the Economics and Planning Minister will talk later on regarding new steps to tackle the epidemic's effect on the Saudi economy, the largest in the Arab world.

Source: Reuters