Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia on Friday recorded 1,338 new COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths due to complications caused by the virus over the past 24 hours as the health ministry expanded its vaccination campaign to include adolescents.

This brings the total number of confirmed infections in the Kingdom to 490,464 and the virus-related fatalities to 7,848.

According to the ministry, a total of 1,208 people recovered over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of people free from the deadly virus to 470,328.

The Eastern region reported the highest number of new cases with 327, followed by the Riyadh region with 279, the Makkah region with 208, and the Asir region with 127 infections.

The remaining cases were detected in other regions of the Kingdom with just one of them reporting less than 10 infections.

According to the ministry, there were 12,288 active cases and 1,374 of them were in critical condition.

The health ministry early Friday announced that more than 18 million doses of the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine have been administered through 587 designated vaccine centers across Saudi Arabia.