Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s ministry of health on Sunday announced the presence of a delta variant of the COVID-19 in the Kingdom for the first time. The ministry said that it can only be countered by completing two doses of the vaccination.
This came in a statement by the ministry’s spokesman, Muhammad Al-Abdel-Aali, during a conference in which he reviewed the latest developments of the virus, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Al-Abdel-Aali said, “Delta variant of the COVID-19 is present in the Kingdom, and we are closely following all the variant through genetic sequencing.”
“The delta variant is the most prevalent globally and the most alarming for its rapid spread. Being satisfied with one dose of the vaccine is not enough to address the virus variant, and two doses must be taken,” he said.
He further stated that the transmission rate of the COVID-19 variant reaches 6 or 7 people from one infected person.
The Saudi health spokesman did not clarify the current number of infections in the Kingdom with the delta variant, but he called on everyone to hurry up to receive the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to prevent complications from the dangerous variant.
Earlier on Sunday—August 15, the Saudi ministry of health announced the registration of 542 new cases of COVID-19, and 13 deaths.
And on August 12, the ministry said that more than 31 million doses of the Corona vaccine were given to citizens and residents through more than 587 vaccination centers in various regions of the Kingdom.