Riyadh, March 29, 2020, SPA – Markets and commercial centers in various regions and cities of the Kingdom witness an abundance of food stocks, whether food of all kinds or meat, vegetables, and fruits, as well as the availability of sterilization materials and medical materials in pharmacies. In the city of Turaif, which is located in the northern border region, shops are keen to provide safe means of sterilizers, gags, and gloves for shoppers, as well as providing everything that meets the demands of shoppers, as these centers witness a moderate demand from citizens and residents to purchase their daily needs that varied between different food items, sterilization tools, and other daily requirements. A number of consumers and market visitors expressed their support for the precautionary plan and preventive measures to limit the spread of the Coronavirus, confirming the stability of prices and the availability of food of all kinds, and praised the work of the agencies involved in applying the precautionary measures that had already had a positive impact on citizens and residents, which aims to reduce the risk of the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), by intensifying hygiene and taking preventive measures and continuous awareness, especially in such facilities that face the great and continuous demand of all. In Riyadh, a number of shoppers, citizens and residents, flock to the points of sale of various food items spread throughout the capital in a smooth and organized manner. Shoppers in each center receive customer service representatives to guide shoppers to sterilize their hands and put on gloves that were prepared by all sales centers, in addition to organizing the entry of shoppers in specific numbers to prevent crowding. Talal Al-Amir, who is one of the organizers of one of the sales centers in Riyadh, explained that shoppers are entered into groups of 55 people, and the rest are waiting until shoppers leave from the inside, and every hour this number is entered and the number itself goes out, pointing out that all shoppers are cooperative and abide by all Preventive instructions . For his part, organizer Mohamed Al-Halabi indicated that his mission is to stand to guide shoppers to sterilize their hands and then wear gloves before entering the shopping center, where sterile materials and gloves were provided at the entrance to the center in order to maintain their safety, stressing the commitment of shoppers and their keenness to fight this disease, while Umm Muhammad thanked the efforts of the government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to preserve the health of citizens and residents and provide them with ways to protect them in every point of sale and substantial food supplies as usual. As for Madinah, the municipality of the region started to use thermal scanning techniques through the use of drones equipped with thermal cameras to initially inspect the visitors of the central markets, intending to strengthen the precautionary measures to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in public sites and commercial markets that are popular with citizens and residents in Madinah. The Secretariat is also working on harnessing modern technologies within its preventive measures to benefit from artificial intelligence services that work to measure some vital indicators for individuals by reading the body temperature of shoppers and sellers within human groups in open markets and identifying those indicators through automated systems and dealing with cases of suspicion in a step to protect the health and safety of shoppers and market visitors. Also, the Madinah Municipality has embarked on the application of these new procedures in addition to a package of preventive measures that include cleansing the central market, continuing sterilization operations, providing sterilization materials for shoppers, and providing advice that will enhance environmental sanitation degrees in public sites and central markets. Regarding the city of Arar, the Ministry of Commerce in the northern border region, in cooperation with the security authorities in the region, organized the ease of consumers' access to markets and hypermarkets. The Director-General of the Ministry of Commerce Branch of the Northern Borders, Ahmed Al-Fayez, explained that the branch organizes the consumers’ entry according to the new regulation, which provides for the entry of 25 shoppers and increases according to the area, pointing out that the regulatory teams organize this in cooperation with the security authorities. In the city of Al-Leith, the markets of vegetables and fruits in the governorate are witnessing a large supply in the midst of a regular demand by residents to take their daily needs from them. The correspondents of the Saudi Press Agency, "SPA", monitored the abundance of supplies and the regular demand from shoppers, who assured the "SPA" that markets meet all the requirements of the population of all types and varieties of vegetables and fruits naturally and appropriately. The supervisory authorities from the relevant government departments continue to work with each other according to complete coordination and one intensive work system around the clock in accordance with the directives of the leadership keen to harness all potentials and energies, and provide comfort and decent ways of life and ensure their permanence for citizens and residents. --SPA 15:21 LOCAL TIME 12:21 GMT 0015 www.spa.gov.sa/w1297210