Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The Ministry of Health on Wednesday reassured the public that no cases of novel Coronavirus have yet been registered in the Kingdom. It also said strict precautionary measures have been put in place to prevent the virus from spreading to the Kingdom.

The command and control center at the ministry is following up the developments related to the outbreak of the new virus in China and coordinate with all relevant authorities to deal with this global epidemic and address it by taking a number of preventive and precautionary measures. It is a center for public health emergencies in the Kingdom, and works under the supervision of the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the health departments in all regions of the Kingdom, as well as with local and international specialists. The center works to ensure the readiness of the ministry to confront public health threats with monitoring of such threats and incidents at the local and global levels.

The center also assesses risks before and during their occurrence, by performing many tasks that include reducing the possibility of diseases by taking preventive measures, adequately preparing to improve the health infrastructure, training the personnel and mobilizing necessary resources, as well as preparing work plans to face the dangers of health disasters, in addition to simulation training on action plans to face hazards.

In the same context, the center performs epidemiological monitoring of possible threats, with health readiness of medical facilities in all regions of the Kingdom. The center also charts a rapid response to public health threats, the development of a specific action plan to address the health disasters involved, and also monitors all responses to the disasters concerned.

Since the beginning of the discovery of the virus in China, the center has taken several precautionary measures, and implemented international health regulations in such cases and fully coordinated with all relevant agencies to deal with the incident and address it by taking a number of preventive measures.

These include closely monitoring the epidemiological situation by communicating with the World Health Organization and other available sources, and coordinating with the General Authority of Civil Aviation to assess direct and indirect travel to and from China in order to provide information to people who may travel to the areas where the virus is registered.