RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia’s daily recorded COVID-19 cases have passed the 3,000 mark for the first time since July 2020.

The Kingdom recorded 3,045 new cases in 24 hours on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Health.

There were also three virus – related deaths, bringing the total COVID – 19 death toll in the country 8,886.

A total of 565,482 cases have now been detected in the Kingdom, and there have been 543,553 recoveries.

Numbers have been climbing rapidly in recent weeks after the first case of the omicron variant was detected in Saudi Arabia on December 1.

That case was traced to an unnamed north African country, according to the official SPA news agency.

Days before the announcement, authorities banned flights to and from Malawi, Zambia, Madagascar, Angola, Seychelles, Mauritius, and Comoros.

Saudi Arabia last week reimposed social distancing measures at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca, as case number climbed.

Workers returned floor marking guiding to social distance, which were removed on October.