Bahrain - Thirty-nine new cases of Covid-19 were registered in the country yesterday.
There are 244 active cases in Bahrain, of which one remains critical, according to the Health Ministry’s website dedicated to the coronavirus.
Twenty more people were discharged from treatment and isolation centres, taking the total number of those recovered to 210.
While the website also showed that 29,533 people have so far been tested for the virus. Bahrain registered its fourth Covid-19 death on Wednesday.
At a Press conference held last night, Covid-19 Control and Monitoring Committee head Lieutenant Colonel Dr Manaf Al Qahtani clarified that the increase in the number of active cases in the country was natural at this stage of combating the virus.
He explained that the average daily cases in the first week was seven, followed by five in the second week, 19 in the third week, 17 in the fourth week, and in the fifth week it was 21.
In the first week a total of 48 new cases were registered, followed by 37, 134, 117, and 80 in the following weeks.
“We are in the fifth week and with an integrated medical team and not having issues with capacity of treatment or quarantine centres and with normalcy of daily life, this is a great achievement compared to other countries,” said Lieutenant Colonel Dr Al Qahtani.
“This is a message to everyone to rest assured that we are on the right track.
“As for the increase in the active cases in Bahrain, this is natural in this stage of combating the virus.”
He also highlighted the three levels of combating the virus – containment, mitigation and suppression, noting that Bahrain was currently in the second phase.
He added that the country had its preparations in place in terms of the medical team, the national plan and facilities even before the first case was registered.
“During the first two weeks we were in the containment level as to how to identify the virus, track it and isolate it to treat,” he explained.
“The second level, which we are in now, is the mitigation level to curb the spread – we closed the schools, we have community awareness in the media, and we talked about social distancing and staying at home.
“We are in this stage without daily life being affected and our airport is not closed, which is again an achievement.
“The third level is suppression, which is the highest, to prevent the infection.
“It has a psychological impact on society and that will be one of the levels we need you to go through with us.
“We will go into the suppression stage and we will combat it and we will succeed.”
He also added that in these stages no healthcare worker or hospital has been infected in Bahrain.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 Task Force head Dr Jameela Salman, who was also present at the Press conference, explained the importance of following the guidelines and instructions published by authorities.
“We are one of the first countries to use hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 patients,” she added.
“The medicine hydroxychloroquine had been effective in alleviating the symptoms of the virus and reducing its complications.
“This is not new, but was used to treat malaria and other cases like rheumatism.”
l The National Health Regulatory Authority last night announced a temporary suspension of non-emergency medical services in private healthcare facilities.
It issued a circular stating this also includes alternative medicine, dental, dermatology and plastic surgery services.
The directives are aimed to combat Covid-19 and will continue for two weeks subject to an extension.
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