JEDDAH: Pregnant women have been told to take special care in following precautionary measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Saudi Ministry of Health has cautioned, as they are thought to be particularly at risk from complications. The ministry’s recommendations come as many have expressed concerns about the impact of the infection on their health. The ministry has reiterated the importance of practicing hand hygiene, maintaining social distancing to limit the spread of the virus and wearing a mask in public at all times, especially in areas where its hard to observe social distancing. The ministry announced a total of 3,036 new cases of in the Kingdom on Wednesday, bringing to 220,144 the number of people in Saudi Arabia have now contracted the disease. There were 60,035 active cases, 2,263 of them critical. 37 percent of the newly announced cases are female, 63 percent are male. Of those infected, 86 percent were adults of working age, 5 percent were over 65 and 9 percent were children. 3,211 new recovered cases have been announced, taking the total number of recoveries to 158,050, while 42 new deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 2,059. The ministry urges everyone to use the self-assessment service in the “Mawid” application or to visit Tataman clinics that have been set up by the ministry for those who feel they are displaying COVID-19 symptoms; there are 237 such clinics. It also recommends calling 937, its central operator, for consultations and inquiries around the clock.