Saudi ends Covid-19 lockdown despite infection spike
Saudi Arabia on Sunday finished a nationwide Covid-19 coronavirus curfew and lifted limitations on businesses, including hair salons and cinemas, following 90 days of stringent curbs, despite a spike in infections.
Prayers were also permitted to resume found in mosques found in the holy metropolis of Makkah, state mass media reported, just weeks prior to the annual haj pilgrimage is due to start.
Overseas flights and religious pilgrimages, however, remain suspended and public gatherings greater than 50 persons are prohibited, based on the interior ministry.
But Saudi Arabia's General Commission for Audiovisual Media announced the reopening of cinemas over the kingdom with strict suggestions on social distancing.
"We are cheerful and cautious as well... I have been with out a haircut for five months," stated Bashayer, a Saudi customer at a Riyadh beauty salon.
"But we happen to be... scared. I sanitize my hands whenever I feel anything," she said, while a hairdresser clad in a mask and face shield cut her wild hair.
The kingdom, which has the best reported coronavirus infections in the Gulf, has seen a spike in cases after it started out a phased easing of stringent lockdown measures in late May.
On Sunday, the total amount of infections rose to 157,612, while the loss of life toll climbed to at least one 1,267, according to data from medical ministry.
Intensive care units on the administrative centre Riyadh and the Crimson Sea city of Jeddah are crowded with coronavirus patients, putting strain on the healthcare system, medical sources told AFP.
But the decision to lift constraints comes amid the kingdom's worst financial crisis in decades as it grapples with the twin blow of low oil rates and the influence of the virus.
Mosques beyond Makkah reopened at the end of May, but with strict guidelines imposing social distancing and other methods.
But the kingdom has said the year-round "umrah" pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah will remain suspended over fears of the coronavirus pandemic spreading in Islam's holiest cities.
Authorities are actually yet to announce if they might proceed with this year's haj, scheduled for the end of July, but experience urged Muslims to defer preparations for the gross annual pilgrimage.
Last year, most 2.5 million faithful travelled to Saudi Arabia from around the world to take part in the haj, which all Muslims must do at least once within their lives if able. - AFP
