JEDDAH: The digital health passport launched by Saudi Arabia on Thursday to record a person’s vaccinations against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) shouldn’t be a prerequisite for travel, the government informed on Friday.
A post from official Tawakalna app Twitter page read: “At the present time, a health passport shouldn’t be a requirement for travel. Some nations might impose necessities related to taking the vaccine in the future”, In the meantime, popular Saudi singer Mohammed Abdu received the COVID-19 vaccine in Jeddah on Friday, and suggested everybody to get their shot as quickly as possible. The 71-year-old likened the experience to receiving a regular flu shot.
There have been 137,862 doses of the vaccine administered within the Kingdom as of Friday. Saudi Arabia reported 4 new COVID-19-related deaths on Friday. The demise toll now stands at 6,282, A total of 97 new cases were reported, meaning that 363,582 individuals have now contracted the disease. There are 2,092 active cases, 309 in critical situation. According to the Ministry of Health, 19 of the newly recorded cases have been in Riyadh, six in Makkah and three in Madinah.
As well as, 171 patients recovered from the virus within the 24 hours previous the ministry’s announcement, bringing the total number of recoveries within the Kingdom to 355,208. Over the same interval, 28,795 PCR tests were carried out, that means Saudi Arabia has so far performed 11,279,061 PCR tests.
The Health Ministry’s call center has reportedly obtained 25,491,313 calls since the begin of the pandemic within the Kingdom.
