Bahrain participates in GCC meeting on coronavirus

Bahrain has participated in the urgent meeting on the new coronavirus, hosted here today by the Communicable Diseases Committee at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s Secretariat-General.

The kingdom’s delegation included Epidemiology and public Health Consultant and Chief of Disease Control Section at the Public Health Directorate, Dr. Adel Al-Sayyad, and Infectious Diseases Consultant at the Salmaniya Medical Complex, Dr. Jameela Al Salman.

The meeting, chaired by Bahrain, discussed the current status of the novel coronavirus, reviewed the protocol of screening passengers arriving from China and highlighted the real need to prevent travel to places where the virus has been detected.

The attendees also discussed the treatment protocol that should be applied whenever a case is discovered in one of the GCC states, and the procedures and measures that must be taken in that situation.

They also stressed the importance of the role of the media role in such crises, and the methods used to contain them and try not to cause panic among the local citizens.

They also reviewed a media plan related to the coverage of the spread of the virus.

Requested by the Kingdom of Bahrain, represented by the Ministry of Health, the meeting aimed to coordinate GCC efforts and exchange experiences in the fields of infection control and precautionary and preventive measures in order to unify GCC efforts for the best interests of the citizens and residents of GCC countries.

The delegation highlighted the preventive measures taken by the kingdom to ensure the safety of the citizens and residents, citing the health control measures taken at border entry points to avert any outbreak of the disease.

They also shed light on the efforts being made to monitor the developments of the disease, and the preparation of leaflets providing guidelines on how to deal with suspected coronavirus cases.