MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th March, 2020) The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Saudi Arabia has increased from 21 to 45, the Ministry of Health said.
"The Ministry of Health reports about ... 24 new cases [of COVID-19] ... The whole number of the infected people has thus reached 45," the ministry wrote on its Twitter page on late Wednesday.
The coronavirus disease was first detected in Wuhan, China's Hubei province, in late December, and has since spread worldwide. More than 126,000 people have been infected with COVID-19, with over 1,600 having died and 67,000 recovered.
On Wednesday, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the COVID-19 outbreak could be characterized as a pandemic.
