Saudi Arabia has confirmed its first case of the coronavirus COVID-19, the Ministry of Health announced on Monday.
The infected person had come from Iran through Bahrain, the report added. The ministry said that the citizen did not disclose his visit to Iran at the Saudi port.
“Within the framework of the ongoing precautionary measures, the ministry sent an infection control team immediately to examine the citizen, and to take a sample for a laboratory examination. The sample confirmed that he was infected with the virus,” the ministry said.
The infected patient is currently isolated in the hospital, and the case is following the required health procedures, the report said.
“The people in contact with the infected person were identified, and samples were taken from them for examination by the National Center for Disease Prevention and Control,” the ministry disclosed, adding that all results will be announced upon a completion of the examination.
The kingdom also temporarily suspended the entry of GCC citizens to Makkah and Madinah. However, those GCC citizens who have been in the country for 14 consecutive days and have not shown symptoms of coronavirus are exempt from the ban.
As a precautionary measure, Saudi Arabia had announced last week that it was suspending all Umrah visas due to the coronavirus outbreak.
With all the GCC states now reporting confirmed cases, globally, the coronavirus has spread to over 70 countries. The Saudi health ministry had previously said that the kingdom has 2,200 hospital beds prepared for quarantine cases.
Stressing that information must be taken from official sources, the ministry also urged the public to contact the official authority for any clarification about the virus.
