Saudi King Gives Rare Public Address on Kingdom’s Virus Response
Saudi King told citizens that his administration was doing everything it could to confront the coronavirus pandemic.
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s elderly monarch made a rare public appearance Thursday, addressing a period of unprecedented turmoil for the kingdom and the royal family and telling citizens that his administration was doing everything it could to confront the coronavirus pandemic.
“Saudi Arabia is continuing to take all the precautionary measures to face this,” King Salman, 84, said in a brief address broadcast to the nation on Thursday night. “We are passing through a difficult stage, part of what the whole world is passing through.”
Saudi Arabia has shut all its borders for at least two weeks and closed most public venues including restaurants, cafes, gyms, and even mosques, a controversial measure that’s stirred emotions in the birthplace of Islam. The king’s son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has at the same time entered into an oil war with Russia, driving down the price of oil, a development that could have severe economic implications for Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter.
Salman didn’t address the price war or economic prospects for the kingdom, but told citizens: “The coming stage will be more difficult.”
The king’s speech came weeks after the detention of high-ranking royal family members including his own brother, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, and the former crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.