Saudi Arabia says it is giving half a million riyals, the equivalent of £96,000, to the family of each medical worker who died fighting the coronavirus pandemic in the kingdom.
An announcement made on Sunday said the financial award would apply to all health care workers who died as a result of the virus, including non-Saudis and personnel who worked in private-sector settings.
The Health Ministry has not said publicly how many of the kingdom’s 8,320 pandemic deaths involved health workers.
Saudi Arabia, which has a population of 30 million, has administered nearly 30 million vaccine doses. The kingdom is currently reporting fewer than 1,000 new cases a day.
Early on in the pandemic, King Salman ordered the government to cover the cost of medical treatment for Covid-19 patients in the country.
Saudi Arabia has recorded close to 533,000 confirmed cases overall, and currently has about 1,400 considered critical.
