Coronavirus: Saudi authorities arrest forger of medical certificates in clampdown

Government also closes 71 mosques for lack of adherence to containment measures

Saudi women sit at a cafe in a shopping mall in the Saudi capital Riyadh after it reopened following the easing of some restrictions put in place by the authorities in a bid to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. AFPShow less

Saudi authorities said on Tuesday they had arrested a man suspected of forging coronavirus-free certificates, as the government tries to clamp down on violators of measures to contain the spreading pandemic in the kingdom.

Officially confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, reached a new daily record of 3,369 on Monday, with a slight drop to 3,288 on Tuesday. The authorities said they closed 71 mosques after infections were detected in them.

Police spokesman Abdullah Al Ashwi told the official news agency that police in the southwest Najran province arrested a Saudi man in his 30s for forging medical certificates that cleared two Yemeni nationals to enter Saudi Arabia as free from the coronavirus.

Mr Al Ashwi said that the two Yemenis, who were also apprehended, paid the Saudi man money to obtain the documents.

He said the arrests were made as “part of the security follow-up of counterfeit crimes and their perpetrators.”

The government has been calling on the public to take seriously measures in place to counter the pandemic as it reopened the economy and let public prayers resume in the last two weeks, despite infections showing no signs of abetting.

Minister of religious Affairs Abdullatif Aal Sheikh said the authorities had closed 71 mosques to where coronavirus cases were traced, "sadly because of adherence to some health measures".

Mr Sheikh said the 71 mosques “are being disinfected.” There are thousands of mosques in Saudi Arabia.

Official data shows that 108,571 people have been infected with the coronavirus in the kingdom, with Riyadh accounting for around a quarter of the cases. The total number confirmed deaths across Saudi Arabia from the pandemic stand at 783.

Bahrain also warned its citizens not to get complacent on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Health stressed that it is the "national responsibility" of all in the country to follow health measures including vigilantly following social distancing guidelines.

The country has seen a rise in cases since May 28, which it said was due to more testing and an increase in social contact. It asked residents and citizens to keep family gatherings to those who live in the same house and to wear face masks at all times when in public and around vulnerable family members.

The ministry cited an example of one infected person having contact with 91 others before discovering they had the disease. Of these, 48.3 per cent were family members, 26.4 per cent were work colleagues, and 25.3 per cent were "contacts who have interacted with the active case across different locations," the ministry said.

Out of the 91 contacts, 33 tested positive and 58 tested negative and are currently under home quarantine measures. The ministry is using tracing technology and methods to trace contacts for the 33 Covid-19 positive individuals.

Bahrain has had 15,731 total cases with 29 deaths.