Combating COVID-19

Since the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Government has increased its efforts to preserve the health and safety of the public, raising its level of preparedness through a wide range of decisions, precautionary measures, and preventive measures. These have contributed significantly to limiting the impact of the virus.

All efforts taken to combat COVID-19 are in line with the Government Action Plan (2019-2022), which focuses on enhancing sustainability and keeping pace with developments in education, health, housing, social support, social care, and labour market regulation. These efforts reaffirm ongoing work aimed at developing health policies, following up on their implementation, and ensuring the optimal use of resources. They also demonstrate the Kingdom’s commitment to ensuring the provision of high quality, sustainable health services that are well organised, comprehensive, and accessible to citizens and residents alike.

The Kingdom’s national response to the pandemic includes the following:

Promoting the right to education

• Deploying Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to support basic and secondary education in the Kingdom and utilising remote learning to ensure the education of students is uninterrupted
• Ensuring the return of Bahraini students stranded abroad to reduce their exposure to coronavirus related risks
• The Virtual Laboratories project, which enables students to perform various science experiments in a safe virtual environment and provides them with basic skills related to their curricula

Promoting the right to health

• Ensuring the protection, health, and safety of all citizens and residents without discrimination
• Approval, provision, and delivery of safe vaccines
• Launching the BeAware Bahrain app, a national platform that combines numerous features, including:
  1. Precautionary instructions
  2. Up-to-date official statistics regarding existing cases and contact tracing
  3. Enabling users to know whether they are close to any existing cases
  4. Supporting quarantine cases, whether in designated centres or at home
  5. Linkage to electronic bracelets used by active home quarantine and self-isolation cases for better monitoring
  6. Registration for COVID-19 vaccines and the ability to select vaccine types, including the option to switch, if required, and a feature to report problems
  7. Display of coronavirus test results and PCR certificate
  8. Registration for Booster Doses

• Providing free preventive and health services, as well as laboratory tests, to all citizens and residents free of charge during the pandemic
• Launching a drive-through coronavirus test service to facilitate procedures, avoid gatherings, and maintain social distancing measures to help limit the spread of the virus
• Launching proactive campaigns and field visits through mobile testing units to conduct random examinations in several areas
• Dedicating isolation and treatment centres for receiving active cases and providing free treatment and care. The Kingdom also allocated precautionary quarantine centres for travelers coming from countries where the virus is widespread, providing them with amenities and entertainment
• Facilitating the import of medicines and medical devices from international companies and securing shipments of medical equipment through the Kingdom's missions abroad
• Introducing a home delivery service for patients' medicines to ensure their health, safety, and comfort
• Providing free vaccinations to all citizens and residents
• Improving policies to immunise the community by expanding the scale of testing and vaccinations
• Activating a telemedicine service to provide consultations via video conferencing that includes:
  1. Simple medical consultations
  2. Health inquiries
  3. Requests for laboratory tests
  4. Renewals of medical prescriptions
  5. Reviews of the results of laboratory tests, x-rays, etc.

Promoting the right to work

• Activating precautionary measures at work sites and residences of expatriate workers
• Holding meetings with representatives of embassies and diplomatic missions from labour-exporting countries in Bahrain, and informing them of the required preventive and precautionary measures
• Evacuating expatriate workers gathered at the center of the capital, Manama, and transferring them to temporary accommodations located in Ain Adhari Park; this was carried out in gradual and studied steps, with the aim of reducing the population density in overcrowded residential buildings in that area
• Distributing approximately 50,000 daily iftar meals throughout Ramadan to expatriate workers in various parts of the Kingdom in response to the “Feena Khair” initiative launched by HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Representative of His Majesty the King for Humanitarian Work and Youth Affairs and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Humanitarian Foundation
• Announcing a decision to continue normal workflow in public and private organisations, and urging the implementation of remote work whenever possible
• Announcing a decision to implement remote work policies for employed mothers at ministries and government entities, stemming from HM the King’s appreciation for their role in society, and considering the importance of mothers being with their children during the current circumstances
• Announcing a decision to implement remote work policies at ministries and government entities, taking into consideration work requirements and provided that it is applied to a maximum of 50% of the organisation’s employees
• Renewing expired residencies of expatriate workers exempting them from fines and fees

Promoting economic rights

• Allocating an economic stimulus package worth BD4.3 billion in support of citizens and the private sector, to spare all citizens and residents from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic:

1. Covering the salaries of insured citizens in the private sector for 3 months
2. Covering electricity and water bills for all subscribers, individuals and companies for 3 months
3. Waiving rent for tenants of government industrial land for 3 months
4. Doubling the size of the Bahrain Liquidity Fund to BD200 million
5. Waiving fees for establishments and facilities in tourism sector for 3 months
6. Raising the lending capacities of banks by the equivalent of BD3.7 billion to allow for the postponement of installments or the provision of additional financing to customers
7. Providing financial grants to impacted companies through the labour fund, Tamkeen, with two portfolios allocated as follows:
   • First portfolio: provides monthly support to taxi drivers, public transport drivers, and bus drivers for 3 months
   • Second portfolio: provides monthly support to driving instructors for 3 months, provided they do not have a Commercial Registration (CR) or pension
8. Redirecting Tamkeen programmes to support impacted companies and restructuring loans supported by it
9. Postponing installments due on housing services at Eskan Bank for 6 months
10. Suspending f rents for tenants and beneficiaries of shops owned by Eskan Bank for 3 months

• Launching an e-commerce platform, mall.bh, which is open for all companies and institutions to offer their products and services
• Providing sufficient food stocks for all citizens and residents, including basic food commodities at reasonable prices
• Launching the ‘Feena Khair’ humanitarian initiative, which aims to protect the most vulnerable members of society from the financial effects of the pandemic. The national effort collects funds from individuals and donor companies and redistributes them among members of Bahraini society who are most in need