BAHRAIN recorded 27 new cases of the coronavirus (Covid-19) on Tuesday, the lowest ever witnessed since the pandemic gained momentum in March last year.
The first two cases of Covid-19 were registered in Bahrain on February 25 – two Bahrainis, a man and a woman, who returned from Iran.
Within the next three days, the country witnessed a total of 33 cases, and since then it has been an upward trend.
The Health Ministry started registering daily new Covid-19 cases by the middle of last year.
The GDN reported last month that the daily new Covid-19 cases hit the lowest number in 12 months – 48 cases – on September 28. However, numbers rose to 76 after a day and 71 the next day.
Subsequently, October saw yet another lowest of 37 new cases on Monday while 45 infections were registered on three days – October 2, 6 and 24. All the other days, numbers ranged from 50, on October 14 to 88, on October 17.
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.
Tens of thousands of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests are being done every day since the outbreak of the pandemic – with the number set to touch a landmark seven million next month.
Recovery rate remains impressive at 99.95 per cent as of Tuesday. Currently, there are 602 active infections. Critical cases are as low as five and those receiving treatment are only two.
The GDN reported last month that an average of 628 cases were recorded daily last September compared with 88 during the same period this year.
Fatalities have also been on the decline since July which witnessed 32 deaths from complications of the virus. Four deaths were registered in August and one last month. However, this month the death toll went up to four – taking the total to 1,393.
June was the cruellest month with the number of deaths hitting a high of 372, followed by May with 334 deaths. April saw 125 fatalities, March 72, February 74 and January 23.
A total of 352 people died from Covid complications last year with the first fatality registered on March 16. The 65-year-old Bahraini woman, who was also the first Covid-19 fatality in the GCC, had contracted the virus while outside the country and had underlying chronic health issues.
Meanwhile, the kingdom is also closing in on ‘herd immunity’ with almost 76pc of its population fully vaccinated as of Tuesday. 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 1,138,835 people with two doses of a vaccine. This accounts for 75.92pc of the total population of 1.5 million; 1,173,883 people (78pc) have taken at least one dose of a vaccine.
‘Herd immunity’ is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection.
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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