The left-handed batter scored 3369 runs in 136 one-day internationals and 2893 in 140 Twenty20 internationals — both Pakistan records
Waleed Saleh grinned behind his face mask in the corridor of Riyadh’s Ibn al-Hajeb elementary school, enjoying his first chance to see all of his classmates in more than a year.
“It has been a while,” the 13-year-old said as his friends headed to lessons around him, wearing white robes and leather sandals and carrying black backpacks. A sign in the courtyard outside wished them all a “warm welcome back”.
Around 6 million students returned to classes in the kingdom this week for the first time since the start of the pandemic after data suggested infections were stabilising and fatalities falling.
But authorities are keeping cautious.
Children older than 12 have to show they have been vaccinated before they can return.
At Ibn al-Hajeb, a security guard checked all the children’s temperature after their parents dropped them off at the gate. The pupils then lined up, standing on marked spots in the courtyard before processing in.
“School breaks and activities involving physical proximity have been cancelled,” school manager Hassan al-Fefe told Reuters.
Pupils have to keep their distance during the day - the children sit far apart on blue tables. But the return was still something to celebrate, Waleed and his friends said.
“At least now we can understand what our teacher is saying. We could barely follow our lessons remotely,” said Fahd al-Fares, 13.
New coronavirus infections in Saudi Arabia have stabilised at a few hundred daily over the last months from a peak of more than 4,000 new cases in June 2020. The average daily number of deaths fell below 10 during August.
On Sunday, the Saudi health ministry reported 208 new infections and six deaths. More than 36 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered and 78 per cent of the kingdom’s 35 million people have at least received one doze, the ministry said.
The left-handed batter scored 3369 runs in 136 one-day internationals and 2893 in 140 Twenty20 internationals — both Pakistan records
Food supplies were distributed to 80 households
On January 31, a heart was airlifted from Delhi to Chennai, paving the way for Ayesha Rashid's life-saving surgery
The online retailer, which is headquartered in Singapore, has said it has around 108 million monthly active users in the 27-nation EU
The baby girl named Rouh, meaning Soul, suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, a doctor at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah said
Specialised teams are currently managing the situation by cleaning up and removing the dead fish
The charges against them include planning terrorist acts, fundraising for the Organisation, and concealing the source and destination of those funds
Eyewitnesses are reporting that the fire seems to be located in the industrial area