Covid 19 and Saudi Arabia’s effort to control it

Last Updated: 14 March 2022. COVID 19 has been the talk of 2020 and even right now in 2022. Covid 19 in Saudi Arabia has been a bit less destructive, thanks to Almighty Allah and Saudi Government’s effort to control this spread.

Nothing else is happening around the world other than COVID 19.

There may be some sports events like IPL and election season in the USA. However, the main story for which this year of 2020 will be remembered is COVID 19, also known as Corona Virus or, in Trump’s word, a “Chinese Virus.”

All the governments in the world have done their best to minimize the damages caused by this pandemic. There are likes of the United States, India, Brazil, and Argentina severely affected by this. Then there are the likes of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan who have done well in controlling this COVID 19 pandemic. Saudia even allowed Expats with Iqama Expiry to come to the hospital and get free medication.

We will discuss Saudi Arabia’s efforts in this article.

Outbreak In Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia discovered its first case on March 4, 2020. After that, there was a steady increase in the daily cases, with the upper range touching almost 5000 patients a day.

Current Situation

After touching almost 5000 cases/day, on June 17, 2020, Saudi Arabia started seeing a decline. Since then, numbers are decreasing daily. All credit goes to the high Authority, Government officials, Saudi Citizens, and Expats who cooperated with their hearts and soul to scrub this Virus from its root. Even though Cases are rising a bit right now still the rate is too low to be worried and we hope things will be Ok.

Update: As of 14th March 2022, there is a total of 748,915 Covid 19 Cases In Saudi Arabia. Out of these, 731,004 Got recovered and only 9000 Died. This makes the death rate of just 1% which is pretty good if we compare to other parts of the world.

Vaccination against Covid 19

As of now, Booster Dose is going on in Saudi Arabia and till now Covid 19 vaccines is completely Free for all Expats and Citizens. Till 14th March 2022, a total of 62,693,230 Doses is completed in Saudi Arabia.

Total Cases

Saudi Arabia has done well in containing Covid19 and its spreading across the kingdom. As of the 11th of October, more than 7 million (7014780) tests have been performed in the kingdom. Out of these 7 million tests, total infections are 748,915. Out of these infections, 731,004 has been recovered successfully. This speaks a lot about the efforts of the Ministry of Health in containing this spread. They are the true front line warrior in this.

Role of Expats

Expats in Saudi Arabia played a considerable role in containing this Virus. They were struck with all the lockdown and precautionary measures taken by the Saudi government. But Almost everyone cooperated with officials, and the Virus was contained easily. 

King’s Gestures

All thanks to Allah Almighty and our King, The Custodian of two holy mosques, King Salman, who took extra care of Citizens and Expats in Saudi Arabia. Many Expats had their Iqama Expiry near. They were unable to extend it for a year because of the lockdown. 

King Salman Approved a Decree to Extend the Iqama Expiry for all Expats for the next three months free of cost. Not only this, but they also increase the Iqama Visa Expiry date of those who were already in their countries and were not able to come due to travel restrictions. 

The King’s order’s beneficiaries include all expatriates outside the Kingdom on exit and re-entry visas, which expired during the lockdown period and after lifting the lockdown. 

This was a huge favour for all those whose Iqama status was about to be invalid. King has won our hearts throughout this time of the pandemic. As of writing this, King has lifted all the bans on International and Domestic travel, and anyone who wants to visit their loved ones can go smoothly. They are also introducing new rules to make life better here in Saudi Arabia

Life after/with Corona

Life after Corona has changed completely. People are hesitating to go out with family. Masks and sanitisers are included in must-have items. The shopping trend has taken a complete shift. People wait in line and stand apart from each other in shopping malls. Travel is completely different now. Domestic and International flights are resuming gradually, but they are making sure that all the SOPs of COVID 19 are in place before they let the passenger in.

What other countries can learn?

The lesson here is simple. You have to take some strict measures just like Saudi Arabia, to contain the spread of this deadly virus. Smart lockdowns, Curfews, and strict checking on SOPs of COVID 19 have helped Saudi Arabia improve the recovery rate of coronavirus. We hope there won’t be any 2nd wave in this country.

We believe in the Saudi Government and its effort, and we salute our front line heroes who took the risk and fought hard against this deadly virus.