Business & Money | Monday 16 March, 2020 12:11 pm |

An official source at the Ministry of Interior stated that in continuation of the preventive and precautionary measures recommended by the competent health authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; as part of its determined efforts to control the Novel Coronavirus (Covid 19);
Based on the concern to protect the health of citizens and expatriates and ensure their safety; And based on the World Health Organization's announcement of the Novel Coronavirus (Covid 19) as a pandemic, as the virus has emerged in 149 countries so far;
The kingdom’s government decided the following:
1. Suspend attendance at work places in all government agencies for a period of (16) days, except for the health, security, and military sectors, the Electronic Security Center, and the remote education system in the education sector.
2. Close the closed and open commercial markets and malls, with the exception of pharmacies and food supply activities such as (food supply, supermarkets, hypermarkets and the like), provided that they commit to sterilizing shopping carts in them after each user of their clients. The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs shall announce this, follow up on its implementation and enable them to provide 24-hour service, and this procedure does not include the shops located on the commercial streets, provided that they are not within commercial complexes, and the closure of men's barber shops and women's beauty salons.
3. Service at food and beverages places and the like is limited only to take away requests, and customers are not allowed to sit at the designated service tables inside the stores, provided that the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs announces this, follows up on its implementation and enables it to provide the service 24 hours a day.
4. Prevent gatherings in public places designated for recreation, such as parks, beaches, resorts, camps, wild parks and the like.
5. Stop all auctions and auctions activities and temporarily close their gathering sites, with the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs announcing this and following up on its implementation.
6. Limit the presence of the public and beneficiaries in government departments by enhancing electronic transactions and activating platforms for providing electronic services remotely, in the service sectors of all government and private agencies, and limiting commercial dealings with companies and their representatives to electronic and telephone communication as much as possible.
7. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development encourages companies, private institutions, and charitable societies to reduce the number of employees attending to workplaces and promote electronic work remotely through the available electronic means with the continuity of basic and sensitive work for the security and health sectors, and the following categories: (pregnant women, and those with respiratory or cardiac diseases, HIV or hereditary diseases, and users of immunosuppressive drugs, who are undergoing treatment from tumors) shall be granted the opportunity to work remotely, according to a medical report that does not exceed one month of age, while health practitioners in the private sector are subject to an evaluation by the facility in which they work.
8. Require all companies and institutions to apply the home quarantine for a period of 14 days from the date of arrival of all expatriate workers from outside the Kingdom before commencing their work, as well as those showing respiratory symptoms from the existing labor during the current situation.
It should be noted that the implementation of these decisions starts from today, Monday 21/7/1441 AH, corresponding to 3/16/2020 AD.