Saudi Arabia: Coronavirus critical cases spiked during Eid holiday, says doctor
A senior Saudi doctor has warned that the number of coronavirus patients in critical condition is “very disturbing”, a day after the kingdom reported nearly 1,300 cases are on ventilators.
Nezar Bahabri, doctor of internal medicine and infectious diseases, told Saudi channel al-Resalah on Wednesday that the number of critical care patients has been “unprecedented” since the start of the outbreak in early March.
“I used to reassure people that the total number of cases is not as important as the number of cases admitted to intensive care unit,” he said.
“But God knows what happened a couple of days before Eid,” he said, referring to the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, an occasion where Muslims visit their relatives to extend feast greetings.
Bahabri said that it is likely, though not certain, that the increase in serious cases had occurred due to family visits to elderly relatives at the end of Ramadan. His assessment is based on the assumption that the illnesses started about one week before Eid.
“Today, we are witnessing the consequences of what happened before Eid. It is not related to the easing of the lockdown after Eid," he said.
Saudi Arabia began relaxing lockdown measures starting last week after a full curfew imposed during the Eid holiday from 24 May.
On Tuesday, health ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Abd Al-Aly said that the number of critical cases reached a “disturbing” figure of 1,264, especially among the elderly and patients with underlying health conditions. The cases were mostly in Jeddah and Riyadh, he said during a daily press briefing.
The announcement came in contrast to Aly's more optimistic assessment on 26 May, when he described the number of critical cases as “reassuring,” estimating that they represent less than two percent of total cases. In one week, however, the percentage jumped to five percent, on par with the international average.
As of Friday, Saudi Arabia has reported a total of 95,748 infections, and 642 deaths. Nearly 70,616 have recovered.
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