Receiving the coronavirus vaccine while fasting does not invalidate the fast, Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti said ahead of the holy month of Ramazan.
“The COVID-19 vaccine does not invalidate the fast of a fasting person because it is not considered as food and drink. The vaccine is administered intramuscularly, so it does not invalidate the fast,” Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh said, reported Arab News on Friday.
The Kingdom’s health ministry said more than 2.6 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine had been administered in the Kingdom to date.
Ramazan 2021 is due to start on either April 12 or 13 in Saudi Arabia depending on the sighting of the moon.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Ministry of Health said more than 2.6 million people have taken a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine jab at one of the 500 vaccine centres across the Kingdom.
The ministry encourages those who would like to take the vaccine to register through the ministry’s Sehhaty application and select a time slot.
On Thursday, the ministry reported 381 new cases, raising the total number of infections in the Kingdom over the course of the pandemic to 383,880.
Riyadh recorded the highest case count with 157 cases, followed by the Eastern Province (74), Makkah (58) and Madinah (11).
There are now 3,688 active cases, 564 of which are in critical care.
On Thursday, 240 new recoveries were also reported, raising the total number of recoveries in the Kingdom to 373,601.
Six new coronavirus-related deaths were reported, raising the national death toll to 6,591.
Saudi Arabia has so far conducted 14.5 million PCR tests, with 47,139 carried out in the past 24 hours.