Department of Medical Laboratories Technology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia; Medical Research Center, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Infectious Disease Research, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
J Infect Public Health. 2020 Jun;13(6):834-838. doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.04.016. Epub 2020 May 11.
Nearly four months have passed since the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which caused the rapidly spreading Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To date, there have been more than 2.3 million confirmed cases and more than 160,000 deaths globally caused by COVID-19. Chinese health authorities, where the virus emerged, have taken prompt strict public health measures to control and prevent the spread of the outbreak. In Saudi Arabia, unprecedented precautionary strict measures were applied to prevent virus entry to the country or to mitigate its impact when it arrives. Here, we review the response of Saudi Arabia to COVID-19 pandemic and how did the experience learned from the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) epidemic since 2012 has helped the country to be better prepared for the current COVID-19 pandemic. We also discuss the country readiness, improvement in research and development, and the unprecedented rapid precautionary measures that have been taken by the Saudi government thus far.
自严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒 2 型（SARS-CoV-2）出现以来，已经过去了将近四个月，该病毒引发了迅速传播的 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行。截至目前，COVID-19 已在全球造成超过 230 万例确诊病例和超过 16 万人死亡。病毒爆发地中国卫生当局采取了迅速严格的公共卫生措施来控制和预防疫情的传播。在沙特阿拉伯，采取了前所未有的预防严格措施来防止病毒进入该国，或减轻其到达时的影响。在这里，我们回顾了沙特阿拉伯对 COVID-19 大流行的反应，以及 2012 年以来从中东呼吸综合征冠状病毒（MERS-CoV）流行中吸取的经验教训如何帮助该国为当前的 COVID-19 大流行做好更好的准备。我们还讨论了该国的准备情况、研究和开发的改进，以及迄今为止沙特政府采取的前所未有的快速预防措施。
