THE Bahrain Grand Prix, one of the region’s biggest sporting and entertainment events, will go ahead later this month without fans, announced organisers, in light of the global spread of coronavirus (Covid-19).
The 2020 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix scheduled to be held at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir from March 19 to 22 will be a “participants-only” event, said the BIC yesterday.
According to Health Ministry’s webpage dedicated to Covid-19, there have been no local cases (community) registered within Bahrain, adding that 6,958 people had been tested with 6,879 testing negative.
Decision
“In consultation with our international partners and the kingdom’s national health taskforce, Bahrain has made the decision to hold this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix as a participants-only event,” said a BIC statement.
“As an F1 host nation, balancing the welfare of supporters and race-goers is a tremendous responsibility.
“Given the continued spread of Covid-19 globally, convening a major sporting event, which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travellers and local fans to interact in close proximity, would not be the right thing to do at the present time.
“But to ensure that neither the sport, nor its global supporter base, is unduly impacted, the race weekend itself will still go ahead as a televised event.”
Praising the country’s efforts to prevent the spread of the deadly virus, the BIS said:
“Aggressive social distancing measures have further increased the effectiveness of preventing the virus’ spread, something that would clearly be near impossible to maintain were the race to have proceeded as originally planned.
“We know how disappointed many will be by this news, especially for those planning to travel to the event, which has become a cornerstone event of the international F1 calendar, but safety has to remain our utmost priority.”
Meanwhile, Gulf Air confirmed that it has not introduced any change in pricing policy alongside preventative measures to combat Covid-19.
In a statement, it also said it was reducing its pricing for the Bahrain-Dammam route, due to a surge in demand on the sector.
“The airline has introduced more flexibility to its traditional fare structure, to allow passengers to change or refund their tickets during flight cancellations and suspensions that have been out of the airlines’ control and constantly re-adapts its policies by keeping its passengers’ best interests at mind,” it said.
“The national carrier applies global airline industry standards in building its pricing structure and managing its seat inventory for its network.
“In regards to queries over the pricing of the Bahrain-Dammam route, the restriction of travel through the King Fahad Causeway to Saudi Arabia has resulted in a spike in demand for air travel between Bahrain and Dammam.
“Historically, passengers have travelled through King Fahad Causeway and the airline has seen extremely minimal direct travel demand for travel between these two airports.
“As a result of this new demand, the airline is reducing its pricing between these two airports and will publish these new fares.”
The GDN reported yesterday that the causeway was closed temporarily as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Borders
Saudi Arabia said it was closing its land borders to travellers from Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, with only commercial trucks being allowed to cross the causeway.
Those wish to travel from Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE to Saudi Arabia can fly into King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Fahad International Airport in Dammam.
Meanwhile, the 19th edition of the Bahrain International Book Fair, organised by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, has been postponed.
It was scheduled to start on March 25, but now a new date will be announced later.
raji@gdn.com.bh
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