Since the start of the global pandemic last year, Saudi Arabia’s authorities and leadership have implemented progressive policies to help the Kingdom mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus within its borders. From imposing strict fines for individuals and businesses who flaunt rules on mask mandates and distancing requirements to shutting down international travel, and even all but cancelling the Hajj pilgrimage for two consecutive years, Saudi authorities are keen to move the Kingdom to post-pandemic life and position its economy for robust recovery.
Now that vaccines are widely available in Saudi Arabia, it should come as no surprise that Saudi authorities are pulling out all the stops to get every citizen and resident vaccinated against the Coronavirus so that life can return to normal – and the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic and social reform plans can continue.
New COVID cases in Saudi Arabia continue to decline.
Bloomberg reports that Saudi Arabia’s carrot-and-stick approach to ensuring that everyone receives a vaccination now places Saudi Arabia at an enviable position for many around the globe: the world’s toughest country for so-called anti-vaxxers.
“A dystopia for opponents of vaccine requirements from the United States to France is already a reality in Saudi Arabia, which enacted what amount to some of the strictest immunization rules in the world on August 1,” Bloomberg reports.
“As the highly-contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 sends other countries back into lockdown, officials in the world’s largest crude exporter are counting on a strategy that makes vaccination all-but mandatory to keep their economy open. That’s made the nation of 35 million a test case in what happens when people who are reluctant to get inoculated are pushed into a corner.
King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“So far, the policy’s working,” the report says.
New daily cases in Saudi Arabia have continued a patient march downward in recent weeks. New daily cases decreased 79% in August, and in the last two weeks, new cases are down a whopping 85%. On Monday, The Ministry of Health confirmed just 221 new daily cases.
According to Bloomberg, Google mobility data shows workplace visits are down just 6% compared to a pre-pandemic baseline, versus 50% in Greater London. And over 6 million children in Saudi Arabia are now heading back to in-person learning.
Saudi Arabia’s approach stands in stark contrast to that of many Western countries, including the United States, where rules and regulations vary state to state – and along with it, infections and deaths.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that the United States saw 160,041 new COVID cases in a 24 hour span, and on average, new cases are up 14% over a 14-day period.
