Back جائحة فيروس كورونا في السعودية Arabic وباء ڤايروس كورونا فى السعوديه 2020 ARZ پەتای جیھانیی کۆڤید-١٩ لە عەرەبستانی سعوودی CKB Pandemie covidu-19 v Saúdské Arábii Czech COVID-19-Pandemie in Saudi-Arabien German Pandemia de COVID-19 en Arabia Saudita Spanish دنیاگیری کووید-۱۹ در عربستان سعودی Persian Pandémie de Covid-19 en Arabie saoudite French מגפת הקורונה בערב הסעודית HE Pandemi Covid-19 di Arab Saudi ID

COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia

COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia
Graph showing COVID-19 cases and deaths in Saudi Arabia from April 2020 to April 2023
DiseaseCOVID-19
Virus strainSARS-CoV-2
LocationSaudi Arabia
First outbreakWuhan, Hubei, China
Index caseQatif, Eastern Province
Arrival date2 March 2020
(4 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 6 days)
Confirmed casesNegative increase 547,402
Active casesPositive decrease 2,223
Critical casesPositive decrease 150
RecoveredIncrease 536,447
Deaths
  • Negative increase 8,922 (official)
  • Negative increase 14,000–99,000 (The Economist excess deaths estimate on 25 Nov 2023)[1]
Government website
covid19.moh.gov.sa

The COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first case in the kingdom was confirmed by the Ministry of Health on 2 March 2020[2][3] and in the following months, the kingdom held the highest number of confirmed cases in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.[4]

The kingdom announced the suspension of all domestic and international travel on March 21; domestic travel was reinitiated on May 21. After curfews and lockdowns were placed on several administrative levels, the number of daily confirmed cases shrunk dramatically and by June 21, all curfews were lifted through a three-phase program enacted throughout the country, except the city of Mecca.[5] By mid-July, the kingdom was seeing more daily recoveries than cases. The Hajj took place with only 10,000 socially-distanced pilgrims allowed to take part in the annual pilgrimage, which fell during the last week of July and the first week of August.[6]

The economy of Saudi Arabia also suffered a heavy impact; a budget deficit of 9 billion US dollars was reported in the first quarter of 2020 caused by the decline in oil prices and the economic effects of the pandemic.[7][8] Several measures were taken to help stimulate the economy, including increasing the value-added tax from 5% to 15%, effective 1 July,[7][8] and cutting spending by 100 billion riyals (US$26,600,000,000).[9] As of September 7, 2020, there had been a little over 320,000 confirmed cases with more than 4,000 deaths attributed to the virus in the kingdom, and international air travel was still suspended. A budget deficit of 40.768 billion riyals was posted by the government in its third quarter of 2020, which was reportedly more than half of the deficit calculated in the previous quarter. The change in figures resulted following the spike in non-oil revenue, which kicked off a continued fall in oil income. The government estimated that the economy would shrink by a further 3.8% in the remaining months of 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the global demand for crude oil. Riyadh planned to cut its spending in 2021 to 990 billion riyals.[10] The Economist estimated excess deaths during the pandemic—likely to have been due to covid—at between 14,000 and 99,000.[1]

  1. ^ a b "The Economist's excess deaths model". The Economist (CDC). 25 November 2023. Scroll down to "Compare excess deaths across countries" and in the search box for the table below the graph enter "Saudi Arabia",
  2. ^ AlGhalyini, Baraa; Shakir, Ismail; Wahed, Muaz; Babar, Sultan; Mohamed, Mohamed (30 June 2022). "Does SARI Score Predict COVID-19 Positivity? A Retrospective Analysis of Emergency Department Patients in a Tertiary Hospital" (PDF). Journal of Health and Allied Sciences. 13: 077–082. doi:10.1055/s-0042-1748806. S2CID 250189262. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Saudi Arabia announces the first case of coronavirus". Arab News. Riyadh: Saudi Research and Marketing Group. 3 March 2020. ISSN 0254-833X. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020. Saudi Arabia reported its first case of the new coronavirus on Monday amid growing fears that a surge in the number of those infected in Iran is threatening the whole region.
  4. ^ "Covid 19 Dashboard: Saudi Arabia". Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  5. ^ "An Approval Issued to fully Lift the Curfew from 06 am on Sunday, Ban on Umrah, Visit, Int'l Flights to Continue The official Saudi Press Agency". www.spa.gov.sa. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Pilgrims safely end Hajj journey". Arab News. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference bbcvat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference aljvat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Barbuscia, Davide (28 October 2020). "Saudi Arabia's deficit down in third quarter as taxes boost revenue". Reuters. Retrieved 28 October 2020.

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