JEDDAH: The Saudi Ministry of Interior on Tuesday announced changes to curfew times during the holy month of Ramadan.

Ministry spokesman, Lt. Gen. Talal Al-Shalhoub, said: “First, it is permissible to allow residents in all regions and cities that are not subject to the curfew instructions to leave their homes throughout the day, from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon.”

He added that citizens living in cities and governorates where around-the-clock curfew prohibitions were in force would be allowed to leave their homes to meet necessary needs, such as health care and food supplies, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m, but only within the neighborhood in which they resided and traveling in vehicles limited to the driver and one passenger. The current curfew is from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.

Residents of neighborhoods that are subject to complete health isolation would still be prevented from leaving their homes.

“The Ministry of Interior confirms that these measures were taken within the framework of the Kingdom’s efforts to combat the (coronavirus disease or COVID-19) pandemic in order to preserve public health,” said Al-Shalhoub.

A total of 1,147 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded in the Kingdom on Tuesday, meaning 11,631 people in Saudi Arabia had now contracted the disease. There were 9,882 active cases, 81 of them critical.

Officials announced 150 new recovered cases, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,640 while six patients had died, raising the death toll to 109.

The latest fatalities, involving five Saudi nationals and one expatriate who were aged between 49 and 87, were in Makkah, Riyadh and Jeddah and most of them were suffering from chronic illnesses.

Saudi Ministry of Health spokesman, Dr. Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly, said more than 200,000 DNA-related lab tests had been performed and 868 of Tuesday’s confirmed cases were detected through the early detection and screening process conducted by at least 150 on-field groups in different regions throughout the Kingdom.