Saudi Arabia: Last COVID-19 patient recovers at Taif hospital

Cairo: A Saudi psychiatric hospital, used as a quarantine facility, has celebrated the recovery of its last COVID-19 patient, Okaz newspaper has reported.

The patient at the hospital in the western city of Taif left the isolation ward to an inpatient ward, according to a senior official at the hospital.

“Today we celebrate the recovery of the last person infected with the virus,” the hospital manager Dr. Farid Al Maliki said. “Thanks to Allah and due to efforts of the hospital team, he has been transferred to the ordinary inpatient ward.”

Dr. Al Maliki explained that the hospital had enforced strict precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, including isolating the COVID-19 patients in an independent quarantine site. “All precautionary measures have been applied to the hospital personnel. A water-tight work plan has also been drawn up to head off an increase in the number of those infected with the virus,” he added.

In recent weeks, the virus infections have significantly declined in Saudi Arabia, which so far has recorded a total of 318,319 cases and 3,982 deaths from COVID-19.