Percentage of Bahrainis with active cases more than doubled after Ashoora
The National Medical Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus (COVID-19) today highlighted that the number of active COVID-19 cases has increased over the past two weeks, surpassing 750 cases on some of the previous days, due to non-compliance of health and precautionary guidelines during the Ashura holidays.
Official statistics have revealed a spike in active COVID-19 cases due to an increase in social and religious gatherings during the Ashura holidays, as a result of non-compliance to precautionary health measures that have been put in place in partnership with the Jaffaria Waqf Directorate and the heads of the Ma’atams in Bahrain.
The Taskforce noted that the percentage of Bahraini citizens with active COVID-19 has more than doubled than that during the Eid Al Fitr holidays. The Taskforce emphasised that two weeks after the Eid Al Fitr holidays, active cases reached 5568, of which 37% of cases were Bahraini citizens, adding that Bahraini citizens with active COVID-19 then doubled two weeks after the Ashura holidays, reaching 7451 active cases, of which 82% of cases are Bahraini citizens. This represents a 34% increase in cases existing between the two occasions, as the indicators showed an increase in the number of existing cases among children and women after the Ashura season, amounting to 2,787 existing cases for women and 1,480 cases for children.
The Taskforce stressed that continued non-compliance with health and precautionary measures has a negative repercussion on society and negative impact on the Kingdom’s efforts which have been praised internationally. In the event that the number of existing cases continues to increase, decisions based on data and developments will be reviewed and a return to procedures from the previous stages to mitigate the spread of the virus may be required.
