Hundreds of Saudi royals get infected with coronavirus: report

Monitoring Desk

RIYADH: Up to 150 members of the Saudi royal family may have gotten infected with the coronavirus, six weeks after the kingdom reported its first case, the New York Times reported.

As the severity of the outbreak across the kingdom escalates, as many as 500 beds are reportedly prepared for royals in some of the country s elite hospitals.

King Salman s nephew, Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, is in intensive care, according to the Times.

Saudi Arabia has more than 2,900 confirmed cases of the virus, including 41 deaths.

This week, the kingdom began imposing a 24-hour curfew in the capital, Riyadh, and several other cities, including Jeddah and Mekkah. It has already barred travel to and from Riyadh, Mekkah and Medina, suspended prayers at mosques and closed Islam’s holiest sites to pilgrims to limit infections.

King Salman on Tuesday also ordered the temporary release of prisoners serving sentences related to unpaid private debts and ordered the suspension of all rulings related to such cases. The government, however, did not say how many detainees would be affected.

The alert added any infected staff members will now be treated at a less elite hospital to save room for royals.

There are thousands of Saudi princes. Many travel regularly to Europe and some are believed to have contracted the virus abroad and brought it back to Saudi Arabia, the report said.

The kingdom of about 33 million people has reported 2,932 cases and 41 deaths.

The country, home to Islam s holiest sites Mecca and Medina, banned the year-round Umrah pilgrimage and sealed off the areas in early March.

Travel in and out of the country, as well as between provinces, has since been largely restricted, and four governates and five major cities have been placed under 24-hour lockdown.

Authorities have yet to announce whether they will proceed with this year s Hajj, scheduled for the end of July. Last year, about 2.5 million people travelled to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Hajj, which all Muslims must perform at least once in their lives if able.