New COVID-19 cases dropped below the 300-mark for the second straight day on Friday after continuing to slide in the last tow weeks with 244 new infections recorded over the past 24 hours. According to a statement from the Ministry of Health, 8 more people died due to complications caused by the virus over the past 24 hours. This brings the total number of confirmed infections in the Kingdom to 543,562 and the virus-related fatalities to 8,520. According to the ministry, a total of 407 people recovered over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of people free from the deadly virus to 531,324. The Riyadh region reported the highest number of new cases with 54, followed by the Makkah region with 46, the Eastern region with 27, and the Jazan region with 23 infections. The remaining cases were detected in other regions of the Kingdom with five of them reporting less than 10 infections. According to the ministry, there were 3,718 active cases and 1,020 of them were in critical condition.