Kingdom reports 10 COVID-19 deaths as 300,000 register for vaccine

Saudi Arabia recorded 10 new COVID-19 related deaths on Friday, raising the total number of fatalities to 6,101.

The Ministry of Health confirmed 174 new confirmed cases reported in the Kingdom in the previous 24 hours, meaning 360,690 people have now contracted the disease.

Of the total number of cases, 3,016 remain active and 436 in critical condition.

According to the ministry, the highest number of cases were recorded in the capital Riyadh with 47, followed by Makkah with 36, Madinah with 28, the Eastern Province recorded 20, and Asir confirmed 10 cases.

The ministry also announced that 208 patients had recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries in the Kingdom to 351,573.

Meanwhile, the health ministry said that 300,000 people had registered to take the vaccine since registration started.

The Kingdom began registering citizens and residents for the free COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday.

The ministry called on everyone to register for the vaccine quickly, in order to preserve their health and safety and to protect them from being infected with the virus.

Free access to the vaccine for all citizens and residents was announced after a three phase testing of the vaccination, which showed a strong immune response and continuous antibodies.

Saudi Arabia is the second Gulf country to approve the use of the vaccine, which was developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, after Bahrain.

The coronavirus pandemic has affected around 75 million people globally and the death toll has exceeded 1.66 million.