COVID 19 social distancing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Bold measures in the face of political, economic, social and religious challenges
Abstract Social distancing at its various levels has been a key measure to mitigate the transmission of COVID 19. The implementation of strict measures for social distancing is challenging, including in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) due to its level of urbanizations, its social and religious norms and its annual hosting of high visibility international religious mass gatherings. KSA started introducing decisive social distancing measures early before the first case of COVID 19 was confirmed in the Kingdom. These ranged from suspension or cancelations of religious, entertainment and sporting mass gatherings and events such as the Umrah, shutting of educational establishments and mosques and postponing all non essential gatherings, to imposing a partial curfew. These measures were taken in spite of their socio economic, political and religious challenges in the interest of public and global health. The effect of these actions on the epidemic curve of the Kingdom and on the global fight against COVID 19 remains to be seen. However, given the current COVID 19 situation, further bold and probably unpopular measures are likely to be introduced in the future.
Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease