RIYADH — Saudi Arabia"s Minister of Health Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah emphasized on Sunday that there should be utmost seriousness on the part of the public to strictly comply with precautionary measures and preventive protocols to stem the spread of COVID-19. While attributing the increase in the number of coronavirus infections mainly to social gatherings and the laxity in preventive measures, Dr. Al-Rabiah warned that “this is a difficult time and failure to compliance will force us to take further precautionary measures to protect the society.” In a statement on the Twitter account of the Ministry of Health he warned of “the risk of a second wave of the pandemic if we continue laxity in the case of social gathering and non-compliance of preventive protocols.” Dr. Al-Rabiah said that many countries of the world are experiencing a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, stressing that the second wave of the pandemic is greater than the first, and we are not immune to it. “Coronavirus must be dealt with the utmost seriousness as there has been observed a noticeable increase in the number of coronavirus infections in Saudi Arabia. “You notice that many countries of the world are living in the second wave of the pandemic, which is more dangerous than the first, and we are not immune from that, so we must deal with this virus with all seriousness and not be complacent in taking all precautions to ensure confronting and addressing it,” Al-Arabiya.net reported quoting him as saying. The minister emphasized that the Saudi leadership has given first and foremost priority to citizen’s health and safety. It is noteworthy that the minister, in an appeal, urged all citizens and expatriates to strictly adhere to the preventive protocols after it had been noticed recently a surge in confirmed cases of coronavirus. He tweeted on Friday: “A great challenge that we faced together, and we have made strides in confronting it, and it had a place in our memory, and again, a heartfelt hope, that we do not allow this challenge to come again.”