Riyadh Governor, 150 Royal Family Members in Saudi Arabia Test Positive For Coronavirus: Report
As many as 150 members of the ruling Saudi royal family have been infected with the novel coronavirus, a news report said. Saudi Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the governor of capital city Riyadh, 77, is in intensive care after contacting COVID-19.
Riyadh, April 9: As many as 150 members of the ruling Saudi royal family have been infected with the novel coronavirus, a news report said. Saudi Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the governor of capital city Riyadh, 77, is in intensive care after contacting COVID-19, reported New York Times, citing hospital communications, doctors and sources. Catch all the live news updates related to coronavirus pandemic in India and other parts of the world.
According to the reports, doctors at the hospital catering royals are preparing nearly 500 beds for the expected coronavirus patients close to the royals. "We don't know how many cases we will get but high alert," the authorities at King Faisal Specialist Hospital said in internal communication, New York Times reported. Saudi Arabia Expects Coronavirus Cases to Spike to Up to 200,000, Says Health Minister.
In view of the Coronavirus outbreak, King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) have already isolated themselves. While King Salman has secluded himself in an island palace off the coast of Jeddah, Crown Prince MBS has moved to undisclosed location on Red Sea coast.
There are thousands of princes in the royal family. Many of them frequently travel to Europe. It is believed that they may have contracted the infection abroad and brought it back to Saudi Arabia, the report said.
According to Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker, Saudi Arabia has reported total 3,287 confirmed cases, including 44 deaths. 666 people have also recovered from the infection. Similar to other countries, Saudi Arabia has also cut off air and land travel in and out of its border.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 09, 2020 08:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).