The Kingdom said 557 patients recovered in past 24 hours 9 mosques reopened in 2 regions after being sterilized after some people tested positive for COVID-19 RIYADH: Saudi Arabia recorded 11 new COVID-19 related deaths on Monday, raising the total number of fatalities to 8,345. The Ministry of Health confirmed 796 new cases reported in the Kingdom in the previous 24 hours, meaning 534,312 people have now contracted the disease. Of the total number of cases, 10,428 remain active and 1,393 in critical condition. According to the ministry, the highest number of cases were recorded in Makkah with 142, followed by the capital Riyadh with 134, the Eastern Province with 132, Jazan recorded 83, and Asir confirmed 74 cases. The health ministry also announced that 557 patients had recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries in the Kingdom to 515,539. The region with the highest recovery rate is the Eastern Province at 124, followed by Riyadh at 117 and Tabuk at 73. Over 30 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the Kingdom to date through 587 centers. The total number of elderly people vaccinated has reached 1,521,144. Over 10 million people have received their second dose, making up 28.85 percent of the Kingdom’s total population of 35,013,414, according to the General Authority for Statistics census until mid-2020. The number of people who have received a first dose exceeds 20 million. At this rate, 70 percent of the population is expected to have received both doses by Oct. 6, 2021. The ministry renewed its call on the public to register with the Sehhaty app to receive the vaccine, and adhere to the measures and abide by instructions. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior said that it has begun implementing a decision requiring all citizens wanting to travel outside the Kingdom to have taken two doses of the vaccine. The ministry said that children under 12 are excluded from the decision, provided that they submit an insurance document approved by the Saudi Central Bank before traveling that covers COVID-19 risks outside the Kingdom. It also excludes those who have recovered from the virus within the last months and those who contracted the disease and received one dose of the vaccine. The Eastern Province’s Municipality closed 24 commercial establishments for violating the preventive measures, while field teams also issued 403 violations during over 9,613 monitoring rounds carried out last week. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs reopened nine mosques in two regions after temporarily evacuating and sterilizing them after some people tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of mosques closed and reopened after being sterilized to 1,984 within 184 days. The coronavirus pandemic has affected over 203 million people globally and the death toll has reached around 4.31 million.