I don’t have much sympathy for them given all the death and disease they have caused in Yemen.
The infections are supposedly a key element in the Saudi decision to announce a ceasefire in Yemen, where Riyadh has been battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels on behalf of the country’s deposed president since 2015.
According to The New York Times, as many as 150 Saudi royals are believed to have contracted the virus, including members of the lesser branches of the extensive family. The Times cited a person close to the family as giving the information. Newsweek has contacted the Saudi government and its embassy in Washington, D.C. for comment.
Saudi Arabia reported its first coronavirus case six weeks ago. There have now been 2,932 confirmed cases in the kingdom, with 41 deaths and 631 recoveries, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Among them—according to the Times—is the senior prince and Riyadh governor Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The prince, a nephew of King Salman, is in intensive care, according to doctors at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital—an elite institution where royals are cared for—who spoke to the Times.
An internal memo sent around the hospital has said that up to 500 beds have been prepared for royals and those close to them as the pandemic takes hold. King Salman, 84, is self-isolating at an island palace near the city of Jeddah on the country’s Red Sea coast.
