التدابير الصحية في مواجهة جائحة كورونا (COVID-19) في المملكة العربية السعودية

Abstract

This paper documents the Kingdom’s experience in handling the Corona pandemic (COVID-19) and factors that helped in dealing with it.

We reviewed the existing regulations and the regulations that came after announcement of the pandemic. We also reviewed the preparations made by the Ministry of Health in addition to the special preparations made specially for the pandemic. We analyzed these regulations using the R0 projection of COVID-19.

The indicators that we used to evaluate the work of pandemic are the fatality rate and the incidence rate. We compared them with the indicators in some different countries and globally, and made reference to the detailed procedures carried out by the Ministry of Health and the procedures that were taken on a national level. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia succeeded in holding back the epidemic as much as possible, and the health system absorbed the first wave successfully.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was well prepared for this pandemic. It managed the most difficult situation without panic, but with confidence and assurance. The previous known plans for the pandemic helped a lot in dealing with the situation. The Kingdom has a strong health system and a solid hospital base, and there are many assistance factors such as unlimited government support for the health sector and good cooperation between state agencies. The Kingdom succeeded in holding back the epidemic so that the health system could deal with the cases and not collapse. This helped decrease the mortality cases compared with other countries.