1 million apply for vaccine through Health Ministry’s Sehhaty app

About 1 million registered users have applied to receive the COVID-19 vaccine through the Ministry of Health’s Sehhaty app with more than 100,000 residents inoculated to date across the three vaccine centers in the Riyadh region, Makkah region and the Eastern Province.

The ministry is working to increase the number of centers opening across the 13 regions.

Currently, there are 2,206 active cases, 351 of whom are in critical care. Of Wednesday’s numbers, 43 cases were reported in the Riyadh region, 38 in Makkah and 14 in the Eastern Province.

Eight of the Kingdom’s regions reported numbers in the single digits with Al-Jouf and Baha reporting zero cases.

A total of 144 new recoveries were also reported, raising the total number of those recovered to 354,899. The Kingdom’s recovery rate is holding steady at 97.6 percent.

The city of Riyadh had the highest cases of recoveries — 33, followed by Jeddah with 16 recoveries. The rest of the Kingdom’s major towns and cities reported single digit recoveries.

Seven people died due to complications from the COVID-19 infection, raising the total number of deaths to 6,272.

In total, more than 11.2 million polymerase chain reaction tests have been conducted by Saudi health officials, 39,795 of those in the past 24 hours.

Regional laboratories have been used to handle the influx of PCR tests conducted across all Takkad centers and drive-through coronavirus testing centers.

The bimolecular lab at Najran Regional Laboratory has conducted 41,612 PCR tests since its inauguration last July.

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry continues to warn that social distancing measures should be adhered to. It said that those who do not adhere to the measures or refuse to have their temperatures tested while entering private and government establishments will be fined SR1,000 ($266) for first offenders. Fines will increase after the first offense.

The ministry is also requesting that the public remain vigilant and report any cases of illegal gatherings that exceed the allowed number on the toll-free number 999, or 911 in the Makkah and Riyadh regions.