Manama: Mahmood Rafique, Editor: The Kingdom Bahrain has achieved yet another milestone in combating the COVID-19 pandemic by completing 502763 or over half a million tests by Wednesday.
The Kingdom has enhanced the capacity of the testing as part of its strategy to mitigate the spread of the virus and so far has completed 502763 tests which is among the highest tests by any country when compared to the size of the population.
This was revealed by Dr. Jameela Salman, the Consultant of Infectious and Internal Diseases at Salmaniya Medical Complex, and member of the National Medical Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus (COVID-19) during a Press conference on Wednesday.
Dr. Waleed Al Manea , the Undersecretary at the Ministry of Health and member of the National Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus (COVID-19), said that everyone should show the responsibility as a member of the society in efforts of combating the infection.
Dr Waleed highlighted the importance of the safety and security of the media staff who have been braving the challenging situation for the past over five months.
“Safe work place for the frontline workers is one of key priorities for the government as the frontline workers and medical staff have to take extreme precautionary steps while performing their duties. Bahrain has implemented all safety guidelines for the staff in line with the global precautionary measures and safety instructions at workplaces both in public and private sectors,” Dr. Waleed explained.
“The guidelines include certain precautionary steps regarding the places at the work, doors and exists, protective tools and guidelines to avoid catching infection. While you are dealing the pandemic or fighting to reduce the spread of the virus, all medical staff should disinfect all places to keep the work places tidy and minimizing the scope of spread of the virus.”
In addition, Dr. Waleed continued, regular testing of the frontline workers and doctors on the periodical basis is another step which has been enforced from the very beginning and if someone shows any symptom should be immediate taken care of accordingly.
Talking about the capacity of isolation and treatment centers at this stage, there were total 8303 isolation and treatment beds and out of which 3811 were occupied in addition, there were 1734 cases of self-quarantine. The number of recovered cases has reached 74%, which one of the highest per centages worldwide, and death rate is around 0.29% which is very minimal and speaks volume of success of Bahrain’s strategy for combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are working hard to achieve one goal to safeguard health of health and safety of citizens and residents,” he explained.
The members of the National Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus (COVID-19) during the press conference which held at the Crown Prince Centre for Training and Medical Research at the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Hospital to highlight the COVID-19 related developments as the members of the task force emphasised the importance of strictly following all measures to ensure the safety of the community.
Lt. Col. Manaf Al Qahtani, the Infectious Disease Consultant and Microbiologist at the BDF Hospital and member of the National Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus (COVID-19), reiterated the importance of adhering to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health.
“Everyone should be responsible member of the society and observe social distancing, wear face masks and sanitization steps to keep the virus at a bay,” Dr Manaf said.
There is only one way how to make Bahrain free of the COVID-19 pandemic and that is through the implementation of the Ministry of Health guidelines as well as through collective efforts. We should remember it will be our actions which will reflect on the results of this campaign as there will be no ‘miracle’ to happen but we have to achieve through actions.
“There are different mechanisms for the public put in place to deal with the possible situation of infection first and the foremost is hotline number which is 444 and is available in different languages; if anyone wants to conduct a test go to the App and the Ministry of Health website. If someone tests positive, the person will be contacted within 48 hours by the Ministry staff and will guide that person how to proceed. If you are an active case isolate yourself at home immediately, do not go out in addition the Be Aware App has all details; house hold contact should be limited; two meters distance should be maintained; need to have your own tools to deal with the health situation. If you are sneezing or have other symptoms cover you face; wash hands on regular basis, least contact with the household is very important.
“Three symptoms; high fever; pain in the chest and difficulty in breathing, then you need to call 999 ambulance. The other aspect is sharing the correct contact details with the concerned officials to help in tracing out all contacts,” Dr Manaf added.
