It has been reported that up to 150 members of the Saudi royal family are infected with the coronavirus, resulting in King Salman and Mohammed bin Salman going into isolation to avoid the pandemic.
Doctors at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, a facility that is known for treating members of the royal family, are currently preparing 500 beds and have been told to be ready for VIPs from around the country.
It has been revealed that all chronic patients are to be moved out immediately. Any infected members of hospital staff will be treated at a less prestigious hospital to make room for more members of the royal family who may become infected and need medical care.
The Saudi royal family is made up of an estimated 15,000 members with several thousand Saudi princes that regularly travel to Europe, where it is thought they picked up the virus. As of yet, it is mainly the lower branches of the royal family that have been infected, with King Salman having secluded himself on an island palace near Jeddah and the prince having been moved to a remote location on the Red Sea Coast.
However, it has been confirmed that the Riyadh governor, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Salud, has been infected and that he is currently being treated in intensive care.
Saudi has an estimated population of 33 million, with 2,932 reported cases of coronavirus and 41 deaths. However, according to the country’s health minister, the number of cases is set to soar to up to 200,000.
Find out the latest Coronavirus stats in Saudi Arabia currently.
He said: “Within the next few weeks, studies predict the number of infections will range from a minimum of 10,000 to a maximum of 200,000.”
He went on to say that the country faces a “critical moment” in its fight against coronavirus with strict 24-hour lockdown being immediately imposed in major Saudi cities, including Tabuk, Dammam, Dhahran and Hofuf. Residents will only be allowed to go out for short trips to grocery or drugstores.
Saudi, home to Islam’s holiest sites Mecca and Medina, has banned the year-round Umrah pilgrimage due to the outbreak and has sealed off these areas since early March. It has not yet been announced whether this year’s Hajj, which is scheduled at the end of July, will go ahead, but it seems unlikely. Last year, 2.5 million people travelled to the country to take part in the Hajji, a series of rituals that Muslims are expected to perform at least once during their lifetime.
Travel in and out of the country, as well as between the provinces, has also been restricted.
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a professor at Rice University who studies the Saudi kingdom, has said: “If it is reaching into the family, then it becomes an urgent issue.”
The first case of coronavirus that was acknowledged by the kingdom was a Saudi who had just returned home from visiting Iran, a known regional epicentre of the virus. However, several doctors have since confirmed that the largest outbreaks of the virus are taking place among non-Saudis such as migrant workers from Southeast Asia.
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