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The number of critically ill patients with COVID-19 in the kingdom has tripled in the past week. Just days after the economic recovery, health workers are already starting to get sick, hospitals are overcrowded, and some intensive care units have already reached capacity limits, as evidenced by interviews with nearly a dozen doctors in Riyadh and Jeddah who spoke anonymously. The death rate is still low, but it is also increasing.
Middle Eastern countries are battling what appears to be a new wave of coronavirus, warning by their example of a world that is slowly returning to a normal life, or adjusting to a new normal. Iran, the epicenter of the Middle East outbreak, is again reporting a record number of new daily infections after easing restrictions in the past two months. Egypt has stated that it expects a significant increase in cases in the coming weeks. In Israel, where restaurants and bars started dropping customers last week, the number of cases also increased, forcing the country to cancel various events, including parliamentary sessions.
At a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lamented what he called a “decrease in discipline.”
However, some countries in the Middle East are better off than others. In the United Arab Emirates, the region’s travel and business hub, the number of new cases has steadily declined in the past week, despite the recent decrease in movement restrictions. In Kuwait and Qatar, case rates remain stable.
Coronavirus in Saudi Arabia
“Normal life”
However, the example from Saudi Arabia shows how quickly the country can break free of the coronavirus control. The country, home to 34 million people, reported one of the lowest death rates in the world, even as the virus wreaked havoc on US healthcare systems. USA And Italy. According to Bloomberg and Johns Hopkins University, mortality in Saudi Arabia is around 0.7%, compared to 5.8%. In the United States and more than 14 percent. In the United Kingdom, although the lack of standardized reports makes it difficult to compare country data.
In part, this may be due to the relatively young age of the kingdom’s population, but Saudi Arabia reacted immediately, introducing quarantine restrictions in early March, even though the number of cases was less than one hundred at the time. It cut off all domestic and foreign travel and locked thousands of people in quarantine hotels. A 24-hour curfew was announced in major cities in April and additional quarantine during Muslim holidays in May.
Last week, the government announced a gradual return to “normal life” and issued recommendations for new precautions. Facial masks are mandatory in public, walls are still closed, curfew after 8 p.m. on the left too. However, mosques reopened to the faithful, restaurants began to invite guests, and staff returned to the offices in flocks.
“Come back carefully”
During the quarantine, the government changed the slogan “We are all responsible” to a new one, and stuck it on all the billboards in the capital.
“We are ready for any situation,” Health Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah told Al-Arabiya TV last week. “We guarantee that we will be able to accept every case that comes our way.”
However, this week’s interviews with health workers show that the bleak situation has been maturing for some time; The same goes for the official figures. The number of critically ill patients rose from less than 400 last week to 1,381 this Thursday.
“These alarming figures show unhealthy behaviors and activities,” Health spokesman Mohammed Al-Abdulaali said Tuesday.
While some Saudi doctors in Bloomberg said there was no shortage of space in their hospitals, others worried that beds were filling up quickly and reported an outbreak of the disease among workers, reducing the lines of doctors who needed it with urgency.
Coronavirus in Saudi Arabia
“I thought we were fine, but it turned out to be far from over,” said a nurse, who asked to remain anonymous because she had revealed confidential information in a country where freedom of expression is not protected.
Back home
According to internal reports seen by Bloomberg, a few days after the offices opened, some government agencies sent their staff home due to positive cases of infection. Several healthcare workers have admitted that they look forward to the next few weeks with fear and expect an increase in cases after the quarantine relaxation.
The Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but authorities warned that the country could revert to stricter quarantine measures if the cases do not decrease.
Israel, like Saudi Arabia, took strict precautionary measures from the start: an almost complete quarantine was introduced into the country from March to mid-April; At the same time, residents were allowed no more than 100 meters from their place of residence. Since late April, the country has lifted restrictions, opening schools and gradually returning staff to offices. Finally, the trains that start operating next Monday were also given the green light.
However, authorities have closed schools where outbreaks have occurred, and some parents prefer to keep their children at home due to a recent increase in new cases.
Caucasus, Turkey
Middle Eastern neighbors are also concerned about the second wave.
The Prime Minister of Armenia, the Armenian Prime Minister of the Caucasus country in northern Iran, said Monday that he and his family had tested positive for coronavirus. Faced with increasing economic difficulties, the country’s government on May 3. it practically lifted restrictions on the coronavirus, recommending that the population wear face masks and adhere to social isolation.
Since then, the number of infections has increased to 11,221, however, the cafes are still overcrowded and many of their visitors lack masks. On Thursday N. Pashinyan circulated a warning on Facebook that hospitals will soon be unable to handle new cases.
On Thursday, Turkey announced that it would lift the pandemic-related restrictions in Iran and allow it to cross the border again. Azerbaijan, another country bordering Iran, said the same day that it would return to strict quarantine in the capital Baku and in three other cities after the number of new infections increased as restrictions eased.
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