THE crushing winter surge in Covid-19 cases is finally receding, with the country witnessing a 55 per cent drop in infections over the last two weeks.
Bahrain woke up to a staggering 8,173 cases – the highest since the outbreak of the pandemic – on February 1, following the emergence and spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
However, as medics from the National Taskforce to Combat Covid-19 had indicated, cases hit a peak during the first week of this month, as it did globally, and then plateaued and started receding during the last five days.
The kingdom has eased its coronavirus protocols as the crucial parameters of infection continue to decline, suggesting the nation is finally turning a corner in the pandemic.
Daily new cases have dropped by almost 30pc, and active cases by 20pc, alongside a similar drop in the number of infections in hospitals, over the last week.
The statistics from February 13 to 17 defends Bahrain’s bold move on Thursday to remove the mandatory reverse transcript polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test and quarantine for incoming passengers.
The Civil Aviation Affairs said the decision had been taken based on recommendations of the task force.
The country also cancelled precautionary quarantine for all contacts of existing cases, including those who do not hold the green shield on BeAware app.
The GDN yesterday reported that the decision comes into effect tomorrow.
Daily new cases which stood at 5,266 last Sunday dropped to 3,651 yesterday – a 55pc drop from the beginning of the month as 8,173 infections were registered on February 1.
Active cases have also dropped – from 54,266 on February 13 to 39,798 yesterday.
The number of cases in hospitals slipped below the 100-mark last Monday, maintaining an average of 80 a day.
However, cases under intensive care and deaths have, unfortunately, not abated. So far, 27 people have succumbed to virus complications this month, which is almost 44pc more than the fatalities (14) in the whole of last month.
The test positivity rates, also known as the Covid-19 positive rate (percentage of positive cases from daily tests performed) also remains high.
According to National Health Regulatory Authority chief executive Dr Maryam Al Jalahma, the country is currently witnessing the waning ‘fourth wave’ of Covid-19 infection, despite high positivity rates.
“Currently we are (in Bahrain) witnessing the fourth wave and it is coming down,” said Dr Al Jalahma.
“Omicron is attacking many countries; thank God, by this time, 90pc of the eligible population were vaccinated (in Bahrain).
“So, the number of cases admitted to intensive care units and hospitals is much less, although the percentage of positivity rate is high,” she pointed out.
Dr Al Jalahma highlighted this in her address at a webinar organised by the Bahrain-based International Peace Institute of Middle East and North Africa.
The positivity rates stood at 22.6 on February 13, dropping to 20.1 the next day and rising to 21.8 on Tuesday. It again dropped marginally to 20.4 on Wednesday and then to 17.5 on Thursday.
Positivity rate denotes the possibility of an individual contracting the infection from his or her community.
The rate had significance when the four-tier traffic-light mechanism to assess virus spread was based on daily Covid-19 cases.
However, according to the updated system, if cases in the ICU are 50 or less for 14 days, it is safe to move to the Green Alert Level.
The country was on precautionary yellow level until February 14 and stepped into the green zone on Tuesday.
The task force said the decisions have been taken after national indicators revealed the effectiveness of vaccination and booster shots in increasing the body’s immunity.
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