Saudi Arabia has announced 2,307 new coronavirus cases in the past day, making it the highest daily increase yet, the country’s health ministry tweeted Friday.
At least nine new deaths related to the virus were also confirmed, bringing the death toll to at least 292, the ministry said.
The additional cases bring the total number of known Covid-19 infections in the country to more than 49,000.
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced a new 24-hour nationwide curfew starting May 23 and during Eid holidays to control the spread of the virus, state-news agency SPA reported, quoting the Ministry of Interior.
ALSO READ: Brazil’s new health minister resigns amid disagreement with President on coronavirus measures
The kingdom had last month eased lockdown measures during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which started from April 23. The important Eid holidays mark the end of Ramadan.
With ramped up testing, reported coronavirus cases continue to rise in Saudi Arabia, and the authorities have called on residents to limit gatherings, an important custom during Ramadan and Eid holidays.
Meanwhile, there are now 4,508,435 cases of coronavirus in the world as of Friday afternoon, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The countries with the highest cases in order are the US, Russia, UK, Spain and Italy.
The US, UK and Italy have the most deaths.
