BAHRAIN witnessed a 70 per cent drop in active Covid-19 cases during the last three months.
The country had 951 active cases on September 1 which dropped to 287 on Thursday, accounting for 69.82pc. The number is also a record low during the last 12 months.
Daily new cases have further declined, with 15 infections registered on Tuesday – the lowest since the onset of the pandemic.
The Health Ministry started registering daily new Covid-19 cases by the middle of last year. The first two infections were registered in Bahrain on February 25 – two Bahrainis, a man and a woman, who returned from Iran tested positive. Within the next three days, the country witnessed 33 cases, and since then it has been an upward trend.
A total of 309 new cases were registered during the first 10 days of this month.
October witnessed a total of 1,771 new infections – averaging at 57 cases a day. The highest daily tally of the month – 88 – was recorded on October 17 and the lowest of 27 on October 26.
Critical cases ranged from one to five while those receiving treatment were at an average of five. The highest number of nine patients receiving treatment was recorded on the first day of the month which dropped to two on the last day.
September recorded an average of 853 active cases a day – ranging from 951 on the first day of the month dropping to 654 on September 30. A total of 2,517 new infections were recorded that month with an average of 83 cases a day. The highest number of daily cases was 139 on September 7. Critical cases for the month averaged at 2.4 daily, while those receiving treatment were five on an average in a day. The month saw as high as six people on critical care on September 20, while the number of those receiving treatment hit a high of 10 on two days – September 16 and 24.
Bahrain’s success in combating Covid-19 has been attributed to its TTT policy – Trace, Test and Treat – a proven strategy which tracks people infected and traces their contacts, helping to reduce the spread of the virus. The country has conducted more than seven million Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Recovery rate remains impressive at 99.95pc, while the virus till date has claimed 1,393 lives.
Fatalities have been on the decline since July which witnessed 32 deaths from complications of the virus. Four deaths were registered in August, one in September and four last month.
June recorded the highest death toll of 372, followed by 334 deaths in May, 125 in April, 72 in March, 74 in February and 23 in January. A total of 352 people died from Covid complications last year with the first fatality registered on March 16.
Meanwhile, the kingdom is closing in on ‘herd immunity’ with almost 77pc of its population fully vaccinated as of Thursday.
Bahrain would require to cover an estimated 1,200,000 people with two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine to achieve the milestone.
The national vaccination campaign, launched on December 17 last year, has covered 1,147,441 people with two doses of a vaccine. This accounts for 76.45pc of the total population of 1.5 million; 1,182,852 people (79pc) have taken at least one dose of a vaccine.
Experts estimate that ‘herd immunity’ would require around 80-90pc of the population to have Covid-19 immunity, either through prior infection or vaccination.
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