Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, recently announced the launch of the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) dashboard commissioned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Created in cooperation with Esri Saudi Arabia and the country's Ministry of Health (MoH), the dashboard is now the official source of data for tracking COVID-19 cases throughout the kingdom. It has given government and health officials the ability to monitor and combat COVID-19, through precise geography-based details and statistics.

"The data provided in the Saudi Arabia COVID-19 dashboard, including case locations and social vulnerability, empowers our decision-makers in the Ministry of Health to make informed and timely decisions," said Faisal Alshammari, head of the Statistics and Information Management Department at the Ministry of Health Saudi Arabia. "It also supports researchers and public users to download the data for further analytics."

Built on top of Esri's COVID-19 Response solution, Saudi Arabia's new dashboard is an online resource that helps decision-makers in health organizations across the country analyze the spread of the pandemic and understand its correlation with location. It is now the firsthand source of information for health care, research, and media related to the spread of the pandemic across the KSA.

The COVID-19 Response solution has the following feature benefits:

Map the cases: See confirmed and active cases, deaths, tests, and recoveries to identify where COVID-19 infections exist and have occurred.

Map the spread: After collecting enough data about individual cases over time, hot spot analysis allows users to determine statistically significant related cases.

Map vulnerable populations: This data was enriched by statistical information from the General Authority for Statistics in the KSA.

Map capacity: The KSA's medical facilities have been mapped to support its ability to respond to the pandemic. Facility data includes location, number of beds, and intensive care units to help decision-makers effectively allocate resources (for internal MoH stakeholders).

"The COVID-19 outbreak has escalated rapidly across the globe, leaving the emergency management capacity of many municipalities challenged," said Sohail Elabd, general manager of Esri Middle East and Africa. "Esri quickly developed solutions like this one, which help organizations better understand the risks to public health, enabling their communities to respond more effectively."