Saudi Health Ministry offers COVID-19 tips for dealing with elderly

Tips on how to protect vulnerable elderly people from contracting the potentially deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have been shared online by Saudi health officials.
Announcing 2,671 new cases of the virus in the Kingdom and 42 deaths, the Ministry of Health on Wednesday said the country’s elderly population was most prone to complications from infection.
To help families and carers, the ministry has produced an infographic on its Twitter account offering advice on how to avoid spreading COVID-19 to the at-risk group.
Those with housemaids looking after the elderly were urged to adhere to a number of procedures, including wearing masks when around them, washing hands before and after being in physical contact with them, and maintaining physical distance unless necessary.
Other tips included not sharing personal items, wearing a mask and gloves when providing personal hygiene, and properly disposing of personal protection equipment (PPE) after use.
A total of 240,474 people in the Kingdom have to date contracted COVID-19, with 55,101 cases still active and 2,221 patients in critical condition.
Jeddah recorded the highest number of the newly confirmed cases at 250, followed by Riyadh with 226, and Al-Hofuf with 211.
In addition, 5,488 more patients had recovered from COVID-19, officials said, taking the total number of recoveries in the Kingdom to 183,048.
Saudi Arabia recorded 42 new deaths in the last 24 hours, raising the toll to 2,325.
Meanwhile, the Taakad (make sure) initiative centers in Qassim region dealt with 745 people since opening last Wednesday. The clinics are dedicated to individuals with mild or no symptoms but who might have been in contact with COVID-19-infected people.
Similar clinics will become available in all of the Kingdom’s regions over the coming days.
The centers provide daily polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, and appointments can be booked through the ministry’s Sehhaty app.
Saudi Arabia had conducted 59,010 new tests over the most recent 24-hour period, bringing the total number of tests to 2,436,683.
The test results help health officials assess the prevalence of COVID-19 in the Kingdom, identify the groups most affected by it, detect cases at an early stage, cut the chain of infection, and prevent possible outbreaks.