On Thursday, life returned to normal in Saudi Arabia’s Qatif governorate after authorities eased the health lockdown, allowing citizens to enter and exit the governorate.
The Kingdom also allowed movement in the province from 9 am until 5 pm.
Qatif recorded 240 cases of the novel coronavirus, 23 of which were announced on Thursday. The new cases were diagnosed among the workers of one of the governorate’s suburban companies and were detected thanks to the active screening of the labor force there.
For ten consecutive days, the governorate had recorded zero cases, reflecting social awareness towards social distancing. This has given the residents of Qatif hope towards stemming the spread of the pandemic.
The easing of the lockdown ends a 53-day quarantine, with 43 coronavirus cases still receiving treatment in the Qatif central hospital.
Amin al-Aqili, the head of a communications committee in Qatif, said that the public is optimistic towards getting rid of the coronavirus.
“There is a lot of solidarity among the people, and the quarantine imposed on the province has played a large role in results in Qatif,” he said.
He confirmed that Qatif citizens understand that the quarantine was for their own benefit and that social distancing was the way to protect them. Many social and religious events have consequently been cancelled.
Early government efforts, such as the closure of the province, the urging of social distancing and the cessation of social activities, prevented the spread of the pandemic, and the efforts of medical teams also contributed to containing infected cases.
Qatif registered its first case of the coronavirus on March 2, diagnosed in a Saudi citizen returning from Iran. The government imposed the lockdown on Qatif on March 8.
