Bahrain attends GCC meet on coronavirus

Riyadh

Bahrain participated in an urgent meeting on the new coronavirus, held here yesterday by the Communicable Diseases Committee at the Gulf Co-operation 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, represented by the Ministry of Health, the meeting aimed to co-ordinate 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.