Bahrain's comprehensive strategies to fight Covid ‘impressive’: WHO Chief

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus has expressed his admiration on Bahrain’s comprehensive strategies to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Dr Ghebreyesus made the remark as he attended the National Taskforce for Combatting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) press conference which was held yesterday at the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital’s Crown Prince Centre for Training and Medical Research.

Dr Tasnim Atatrah, WHO Representative and Head of Office in Bahrain, was also present in the event, along with Health Minister Faeqa Al Saleh and other top health officials. Following his visit to several treatments, vaccination, and isolation centres, Dr Ghebreyesus was especially impressed by the number of women in leadership roles at the test, trace, and treating facilities.

He said that the Kingdom leads in its integrated, innovative, patient-centred care and reiterated WHO’s commitment to work with Bahrain to end the pandemic. Minister Al Saleh presented the Kingdom’s comprehensive health strategies which were put in place last year to overcome the COVID-19.

The Minister said it was in line with His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s directives and the Kingdom’s national efforts to safeguard Bahrain’s citizens and residents’ health. Al Saleh noted the precautionary measures and early medical response that have been adopted in line with the recommendations presented by the WHO.

The preparations included forming a National Medical Taskforce to develop the necessary health protocols and establishing a 24-hour war room that tracks operations and developments to inform critical decision-making. She said that an integrated media strategy was developed prior to the detection of the first positive case in Bahrain.

This strategy serves as a crisis guide that can be used to manage challenges presented by the COVID-19 in a proactive and timely manner. In addition, informed and transparent awareness campaigns were launched in multiple languages.

The Minister added that Bahrain has maintained a high level of testing since the early stages of the pandemic with its “Test, Trace, and Treat” strategy, providing up to 20,000 PCR tests per day to ensure early detection and treatment of cases free of charge.

With regards to epidemiological statistics, Dr Waleed Khalifa Al Manea, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Health and Member of the National Medical Taskforce for Combatting the Coronavirus (COVID-19), said that the Kingdom has completed the vaccination of one million people with various approved vaccinations, which equates to 70% of the total population, and 89% of those eligible for vaccination.

Meanwhile, the percentage of those registered to take the vaccination reached 99% of the eligible population. Bahrain has stocks of more than 4.5 million vaccination doses to cover this year’s requirements and next year. In addition, plans are in place to increase the daily vaccination rate to 31,000 doses administered per day. Dr Al Manea noted that vaccination zones have been created for the elderly who will not need to pre-register.