RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Commerce said on Monday that it’s teams carried out 20,231 inspection visits in January to ensure businesses are complying with COVID-19 precautions and adhering to consumer-protection regulations. Supervisory teams issued more than 1,500 violation notices, which represents more than 7 percent of the commercial establishments visited, the ministry said. Food suppliers accounted for the highest number of violations, followed by retail outlets, furnishing businesses and providers of non-essential goods. The appropriate legal action was taken. The ministry called on all businesses to adhere to precautionary health measures and said that it would continue to inspect commercial establishments in all regions of the Kingdom to ensure that they are complying with consumer-protection regulations. Meanwhile, the General Presidency of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque has recruited 400 employees to work around the clock to ensure precautionary health measures are implemented. Fayez Al-Harithi, director-general of the General Administration of Security and Safety, said that all operations inside the Grand Mosque, its external facilities and the presidency’s main building are managed according to a clear methodology that ensures security and safety requirements are implemented and visitors and employees are protected. He added that 191 civil defense guards have also been deployed to help maintain security and ensure precautionary measures are applied. Abdulaziz Al-Ayoubi, assistant undersecretary for the affairs of the Prophet’s Mosque, said a plan has been developed to strengthen the preventative measures following a recent rise in the number of COVID-19 cases. The measures include an awareness campaign and mandatory preventative procedures. Police arrested number of citizens who failed to comply with officers who attempted to break up a gathering in Qassim that included more than the maximum permitted number of people. Some of the people then posted about the incident on social media. Lt. Col. Bader Al-Suhaibani, the media spokesman for Qassim Police, said legal action has been taken against everyone who participated in the gathering.