RIYADH: A woman in Saudi Arabia has been blamed for infecting 21 of her family members with the coronavirus after failing to comply with safety measures.
Some of her relatives were elderly, the Saudi health ministry said yesterday.
The ministry has been sharing details on how some people became infected with the virus.
The previous day, the ministry said that 16 family members contracted the virus after one Saudi national returned from another city and proceeded to phsycialy greet his family. The death of his father, who had a heart disease, was announced on Friday after battling the virus infection.
Despite the easing of restrictions, authorities continue to urge people to comply with preventative measures including social distancing, wearing a face mask, avoiding physical greetings and avoiding crowds or gatherings.
The ministry said the country has recorded 3,927 new cases over the past 24 hours, taking the total to 178,504.
The majority of the new cases were detected in the city of Al Hafouf where 535 cases were found. Mecca reported the second highest with 408 new cases over the past 24 hours.
Thirty-seven people who had previously tested positive for the virus have died, raising the death toll to 1,511.
Oman reported 919 new cases, and six new deaths yesterday, bringing the total case count to 36,953, and total deaths to 159.
Its Health Ministry reported 881 new recoveries, bringing the total to 20,363. Of the new cases, 402 were found in non-Omanis and 517 in the local population.
Yesterday’s daily case count marks a downward shift from the previous three days that have all seen daily recorded cases topping 1,000. Earlier this week, Oman reported its highest daily increase so far with 1,605 new cases.
This week, the health minister said in case infection numbers continued to increase, field hospitals might be needed.
The UAE reported 387 new coronavirus cases, 365 recoveries and one death, according to government spokesperson Dr Amna Al Shamsi. The country’s tally now stands at 47,360 confirmed cases, 35,834 recovered patients and the death toll stands at 311.
Kuwait has confirmed 915 new cases, raising the total to 43,703, the health ministry announced.
On Thursday, infections in the GCC surpassed 400,000, and Oman has the second fewest cases in the region behind Bahrain.