Saudi health minister receives second dose of Covid-19 vaccine

Kingdom launches 'medical passport' application to track inoculations

This handout picture provided by Saudi Health Ministry on January 7, 2020 shows Saudi Arabia's Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah receiving the secnd dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine in the capital Riyadh, as part of a vaccination campaign by the ministry. RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / HEALTH MINISTRY " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
 / AFP / SAUDI HEALTH MINISTRY / - / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / HEALTH MINISTRY " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
Powered by automated translation

Saudi Arabia's Minister of Health Dr Tawfiq Al Rabiah received a second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in the capital Riyadh on Thursday after launching an app to track inoculations.

The  Tawakkalna application aims to verify that users have taken all the required doses of the Covid-19 vaccination, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Tawakkalna now has nine million users, allowing them to keep track of their medical history and dates of inoculation.

Saudi Arabia became the first country in the Middle East to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last month.

On Thursday, the kingdom reported 108 new coronavirus cases and six deaths, bringing its total number of Covid-19 cases since the coronavirus pandemic began to 355,037, according to the Ministry of Health.

Saudi Arabia reopened its sea, land and air borders to foreign travellers on Sunday after a two-week ban imposed over fears of a new fast-spreading coronavirus variant.

Cargo flights and supply chains were exempted from the ban.