Saudi heath ministry reports 12 new coronavirus deaths

A Saudi woman shops at a store at the Panorama Mall in the capital Riyadh on May 22, 2020, as Muslims prepare to celebrate the upcoming Eid al-Fitr, that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. (AFP)

• The new cases have raised the total number to 76,726
• The ministry urged people to respect social distancing

JEDDAH: Twelve new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) deaths were recorded in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, raising the overall toll to 411.

The latest fatalities, announced by the Ministry of Health, involved three Saudis and nine expats, aged between 45 and 76, from Makkah, Taif, Madinah, Jeddah, and Dammam. All of them suffered from chronic diseases.

Ministry spokesman, Dr. Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly, said another 1,931 COVID-19 cases were reported in the Kingdom, bringing the total number to 76,726, of which 27,865 were active cases and 397 of them were in critical condition.

Al-Aly said that active cases had dropped while there had been 2,782 new recoveries, taking the total number of recovered cases to 48,450.

He added that 16,664 new screening tests had been conducted, taking the total number of tests in the Kingdom to 738,743.