LMRA assisting expatriate workers in various ways during COVID-19 crisis

LMRA chief Al Absi highlighted that, in line with the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, the LMRA has supported the private sector by suspending monthly work fees, as well as fees for issuing and renewing work permits for a period of three months.

Al Absi added that between April 1 and April 26, a total of 13,284 permit statuses have been corrected, leading to a decrease in the number of incorrectly registered or undocumented workers within the Kingdom.

He also noted that, as of April 26, there have been 1,909 registered COVID-19 cases among expatriate workers, of which 95.5 percent work for business employers, with only 1.7 percent on flexible work permits from the registered expatriate workers.

The rest of the cases are amongst expatriates with visit visas, enrolled visas, or house workers. Furthermore, 89 percent of the 1,909 registered COVID-19 cases are among expatriate workers with legal permits, while only nine percent are among workers with non-compliant permits, and two percent are amongst expatriates with visitor visas.

Al Absi emphasized that the LMRA has coordinated with business owners to provide additional housing for their expatriate workers to self-isolate. Currently, business owners have provided 59 percent of the total buildings being used for self-isolation, accommodating 7,046 workers.

Meals, medication, and care continue to be provided, under the supervision of the LMRA. On this note, Al Absi added that 42 percent of the buildings designated for self-isolation are self-provided accommodation.

These buildings are currently accommodating 2,739 workers, with the Kingdom providing these individuals with food and medication. Al Absi noted that the Kingdom has provided 23,500 meals to expatriate workers over the past five days and, since February, the LMRA has circulated 1,719,206 awareness brochures amongst expatriate workers, with 577,000 expatriate workers having visited the LMRA Facebook awareness page.

Al Absi highlighted that, in coordination with the interior and health ministries, a comprehensive contact-tracing plan has been developed to flag active cases and their contacts amongst expatriate workers, while clarifying whether their residences are owned by an employer or are self-provided shared accommodation.

Meals are regularly provided to workers living in self-provided shared accommodation, and the relevant authorities continue to regularly visit these residences to log necessary public health information. The LMRA is also conducting outreach to businesses in order to record information on the expatriate workers and to facilitate testing appointments for contacts of active cases.