Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia to ease Covid-19 curfew from Thursday

Riyadh - Health Minister Al Rabiah said the easing of restrictions will be undertaken in phases and will depend on how the spread of the virus pans out this week.

Saudi Arabia will begin easing its coronavirus curfew from Thursday, it has been announced.
Health Minister Tawfiq Al Rabiah said the easing of restrictions will be undertaken in phases and will depend on how the spread of the virus pans out this week. 
The first phase will begin with expanding capacity to serve "critical patients" and the second will include intensifying Covid-19 tests and early detection .
Speaking a a press conference on Monday, the health minister said the Saudi people had displayed a "high amount of responsibility in practising social distancing." 
"After five months since this pandemic started, where the global health systems faced great difficulties in dealing with it, our society has become today more aware of this virus and implementing the measures of the social distancing, as it is a new experience for all of us," he said in remarks quoted by the Saudi Press Agency. 
Al Rabiah said imposing precautionary measures during an early phase of the pandemic had put the Kingdom more in control of the virus spread.
"We are proud of the Saudi experts in this field who are internationally recognised, and we rely on their experiences in dealing with that virus," he added.  
The minister said that people should continue taking precautionary measures while leaving their homes by using face masks and hand gloves.
The Health Ministry recorded nine new deaths and 2,235 new cases of coronavirus in the Kingdom on Monday.
The new deaths have increased the Covid-19-related toll in Saudi Arabia to 399 and the total number of confirmed cases to 74,795. 
The number of recoveries has risen to 2,148, taking the total number of recovered cases to 45,668.

• Saudi Arabia