National plans and preventive measures are in place as Bahrain has registered a total of 23 cases of Coronavirus (Covid-19).
All the patients, including the 21 new cases recorded yesterday, are in stable condition and receiving treatment at Ebrahim Khalil Kanoo Medical Centre in Salmaniya.
Fifty-nine other people have also been taken into quarantine as precautionary measures, said the National Team to Combat Coronavirus (Covid-19) during a Press briefing held last night at the Crown Prince Centre for Training and Medical Research.
All the patients who have tested positive for the virus arrived at Bahrain International Airport (BIA) from Iran, via Dubai or Sharjah.
Two of them, a Bahraini man and a Bahraini woman, were reported on Monday, while the rest were registered yesterday including six people – two Bahrainis (a man and a woman) and four Saudi women – who arrived via Dubai, and nine people – seven Bahrainis (four women and three men) and two Saudi women – arriving via Sharjah.
The other six cases, all Bahrainis, arrived from Iran via both Dubai and Sharjah.
All of the cases, except for the first one, were caught at the airport and immediately transferred to the dedicated isolation facility.
Details of the cases and the procedures being taken by authorities to contain the spread of the virus were discussed during the Press briefing, which was
chaired by BDF Hospital infection control unit head Lieutenant Colonel Dr Manaf Al Qahtani and Covid-19 Task Force head Dr Jameela Salman.
“We have 23 cases confirmed positive and all of them are stable,” said Dr Al Qahtani.
“Due to the size of the country we are the ones with the highest number (of confirmed cases per capita), but compared with other countries we are not.
“All the cases, except for the first one, were registered at the airport and so far we have confirmed that the first person has not infected anyone else in Bahrain.
“We also have 59 people in quarantine, who are under monitoring for symptoms as they were exposed to the virus.”
Dr Al Qahtani explained that the Ebrahim Khalil Kanoo Medical Centre has been fully transformed from a rehab facility to a dedicated isolation unit, with four different zones to ensure safety of everyone involved.
“Zone One is for the positive tested patients and it is ensured that the virus will not circulate anywhere else inside or outside of this zone,” he said.
“The nurses’ station is far from the first three zones, which are for active and symptomatic cases, and has complete ventilation and hyper filters.
Measures
“We are taking all extreme measures to protect our healthcare workers and have provided them with protection.”
He added that the team was co-ordinating with the National Health Regulatory Authority to liaise with the private healthcare sector in all its efforts and ensure safety of medics and patients.
Meanwhile, Dr Salman, who is also Health Ministry HIV committee and antibiotic management team chairwoman, explained that contingency plans were in place, including having additional isolation units, as part of preventive measures to contain the virus.
“We have been working over the past few weeks to estimate how many beds we will need if we get confirmed cases,” she said.
“We have also been working with all private and public hospitals to check on the number and types of beds available that could be utilised.
“We have two types of facilities, one is to isolate possible or suspected cases like the Ebrahim Khalil Kanoo Centre.
“And we have stages that we follow and we also have plan B and C (for additional units) that will also have good bed capacity.
“(While the second type of facility) is the quarantine facilities for people who have been exposed to those confirmed with
the virus or the countries of concern – we will place them there for 14 days to monitor symptoms.
“So far we are good on both the facilities to deal with the numbers that we have.”
Believed to come from wildlife in Wuhan city late last year, the flu-like disease has infected 80,000 people and killed 2,663 in China.
Beyond mainland China it has jumped to about 29 countries and territories, with some three dozen deaths.
While Iran’s Coronavirus death toll rose to 15 yesterday, the most outside China, heightening its international isolation as dozens of worst-hit nations from South Korea to Italy stepped up emergency measures to curb the epidemic’s global spread.
Bahrain’s Health Ministry has highlighted that a comprehensive medical protocol is being followed to combat Covid-19, which is in line with established international guidelines as set out by the Gulf Health Council and the World Health Organisation.
The ministry has called upon all citizens and residents who are experiencing symptoms to isolate themselves, call 444 and follow the instructions given by the medical team, and avoid close contact with others.
• The Health Ministry is co-ordinating with Dubai health authorities to provide treatment to a Bahraini patient at Rashid Hospital in Dubai, in accordance with WHO guidelines.
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