Police in Jazan arrest 71 people for flouting quarantine rules Municipalities in Jeddah and Jazan close 43 business for violating preventative measures RIYADH: Saudi Arabia recorded seven new COVID-19 related deaths on Monday, raising the total number of fatalities to 8,539. The Ministry of Health confirmed 221 new cases reported in the Kingdom in the previous 24 hours, meaning 544,225 people have now contracted the disease. Of the total number of cases, 3,174 remain active and 927 in critical condition. According to the ministry, the highest number of cases were recorded in the capital Riyadh with 66, followed by Makkah with 36, the Eastern Province with 21,Jazan recorded 20, and Qassim confirmed 19 cases. The health ministry also announced that 386 patients had recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries in the Kingdom to 532,512. Over 36.4 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered in the Kingdom to date through 587 centers. 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. Police in Jazan arrested 71 people for violating quarantine measures after discovering they were infected by COVID-19 putting people at risk. Quarantine violators could face up to two years in prison and fines of SR200,000 ($53,330) and expats will be deported and permanently banned from returning to the Kingdom. Municipalities in the Kingdom have shut down multiple commercial outlets as part of their efforts to monitor compliance with health and safety measures to stop the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The municipality of Jeddah closed 21 facilities carried out during 3,785 inspection tours on Sunday. The Jazan Municipality issued fines to 22 businesses and closed 10 others for violating coronavirus preventive measures, during 3,043 monitoring rounds carried out in the past two weeks. Officials have urged the public to report any suspected health breaches by phoning the 940 call center number or contacting authorities through the Balady app. The coronavirus pandemic has affected over 217 million people globally and the death toll has reached around 4.51 million.