45,166 recoveries, 3,314 active cases, 181 deaths

TDT | Manama

Bahrain yesterday reported two more coronaviruses (COVID-19) deaths raising the tally of fatalities to the deadly infection in the Kingdom to 181. Two Bahraini women, aged 73 and 81, are the latest casualties of Bahrain coronavirus battle, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on its twitter handle. Ministry officials, announcing the deaths, expressed condolences to the families of the deceased.

There are currently 75 COVID-19 cases in the Kingdom admitted to various treatment centres, of which 36 patients are critically ill, the ministry said. The total number of active cases in the Kingdom, as of yesterday, stand at 3,314, out of which 3,278 patents are in a stable health condition.

The health ministry said it carried out 8,998 COVID-19 tests in the Kingdom yesterday, increasing the total number of tests carried out in the Kingdom, after detecting the first case in February, to 1,020,803. Some 358 new coronavirus cases were detected yesterday, the ministry said adding that 123 of the new cases were expatriate workers, 230 were the contact of active cases and five were travel related.

The ministry also reported 538 new recoveries yesterday taking the total number of people cured of their infections till date to 45,166. In the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, the number of infection has almost touched 700,000, with death nearing 5,500. Saudi is the worst affected in GCC with around 306,000 infection and more than 3,500 deaths.

UAE could reintroduce curfew The United Arab Emirates in a statement yesterday said it could reintroduce a de-facto overnight curfew in some areas of the country if there are a high number of COVID-19 infections there.

Asked if the national sterilisation programme, which had included a nighttime curfew, could again be enforced, National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) spokesman Seif alZahri told Emirates TV: “Yes, that’s possible in certain areas where we observe high infection cases.”

COVID will last less than two years: WHO Meanwhile, The World Health Organisation said it hopes the coronavirus pandemic will be shorter than the 1918 Spanish flu and last less than two years. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the 1918 Spanish flu “took two years to stop”.

“And in our situation now with more technology, and of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading, it can move fast because we are more connected now,” he told a briefing in Geneva.

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“But at the same time we have also the technology to stop it and the knowledge to stop it. So we have a disadvantage of globalisation, closeness, connectedness but an advantage of better technology. “So we hope to finish this pandemic (in) less than two years.”