More than six weeks after Saudi Arabia reported its first case, the coronavirus is striking at the heart of the kingdom’s sprawling royal family.
Streets were almost empty in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday. The kingdom’s biggest cities are all under a 24-hour lockdown.
Sources told the New York Times that up to 150 members of the royal family in Saudi Arabia may be infected with the Corona virus.
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The newspaper quoted officials at King Faisal Specialist Hospital, which handles treatment for members of the royal family, preparing about 500 beds in preparation for the possibility of receiving members of the royal family and people close to them.
The newspaper said that it had received a copy of the internal message of the hospital staff, which stated that there are directives to prepare to receive VIP personalities from all over the Kingdom.
“The senior Saudi prince who is governor of Riyadh is in intensive care with the coronavirus. Several dozen other members of the royal family have been sickened as well. And doctors at the elite hospital that treats Al-Saud clan members are preparing as many as 500 beds for an expected influx of other royals and those closest to them, according to an internal “high alert” sent out by hospital officials”, the newspaper said.
“Directives are to be ready for V.I.P.s from around the country,” the operators of the elite facility, the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, wrote in the alert, sent electronically Tuesday night to senior doctors. A copy was obtained by The New York Times.
“We don’t know how many cases we will get but high alert,” the message stated, instructing that “all chronic patients to be moved out ASAP,” and that only “top urgent cases” will be accepted. It said any sick staff members would now be treated at a less elite hospital to make room for the royals.
King Salman, 84, has secluded himself for his safety in an island palace near the city of Jeddah on the Red Sea, while Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, his son and the 34-year-old de facto ruler, has retreated with many of his ministers to the remote site on the same coast where he has promised to build a futuristic city known as Neom.
