As the second wave of COVID spans the globe and many governments begin to reinforce shutdowns, Mukatafa is partnering with the Saudi Ministry of Municipality to create a policy that offers more protections nationwide. 

 

With the severity and number of cases increasing globally, Mukatafa is following and partnering with the Saudi Ministry of Municipality to set more protections with the second wave of this virus. These are detrimental to hospital capacity and the livelihood of Saudi citizens overall.   

In this protection, the following are included: 

• Municipal authority to close stores 
• Support from law enforcement and scout volunteers to manage crowds 
• Individual fines for not wearing a mask  

According to the Global Citizen, Saudi Arabia is one of the top 5 countries getting their response to COVID-19 “right.” 

Despite the country’s limited testing capabilities, Saudi Arabia’s approach to disease management has kept the number of confirmed cases low. As of November 23, 2020, the Kingdom has 355,258 confirmed cases and 5,780 deaths.   

Saudi Arabia took early precautions to prevent the spread of the virus in February and March. These precautions included closing religious sites including Mecca and all mosques. Saudi restricted all travelers from COVID-19 hotspots, regardless if they were traveling for religious purposes, and has encouraged citizens to perform daily prayers at home. 

The  Global Media Insight predicts that Saudi is one of the most successful at mitigating this virus because of its unique social media presence – Saudi has one of the largest social media user populations in the world. The government took advantage of this as a tool and launched online campaigns about wearing masks, staying at home, and flattening the curve. These campaigns flooded platforms like Twitter and rapidly went viral, encouraging citizens to follow suit. And, there has been a mobilization of leading shopping malls, restaurants, and cafes to manage crowds by taking extra precautionary measures. 

According to the Saudi Ministry of Health, the COVID-19 vaccine, once available, will be offered to all citizens and residents of Saudi free of charge. This will only further progress on Saudi’s success of fighting this virus as a nation and will allow the Kingdom to maintain progress as one of the most successful countries in eliminating COVID-19, behind New Zealand, Senegal, Iceland, and Denmark, according to The Global Citizen.