Manama: Bahrain has cancelled the mandatory 10-day home quarantine required for all incoming passengers, official news agency BNA reported on Thursday.
However, all arriving passengers will be required to undergo a PCR test for coronavirus at their own expenses. They will need to pay for two COVID-19 PCR tests – one to be conducted on arrival and another 10 days later. The test costs 60 Bahraini dinars (Rs. 11, 900).
Domestic quarantine will no longer be required for passengers who were negative in their initial test upon arrival, BNA said. But travellers who are staying more than 10 days have to undergo the second test.
This decision, which came to effect on Thursday, was one of the key steps announced by the Government Executive Committee after statistics showed that between July 1 and August 16, only 0.2 per cent of the arriving passengers tested positive for the virus.
All inbound passengers have to sign a declaration that they will adhere to the home quarantine instruction until a negative test result comes out. And they are required to download and activate the ‘BeAware Bahrain’ App.
On Thursday, Bahrain’s Health Minister Faeqa bint Saeed Alsaleh announced that the country had conducted over one million COVID-19 PCR tests.
The Minister highlighted that Bahrain has been conducting 675 tests per 1,000 people, one of the highest rates in the world. And of the total tested, only 4.8 % were diagnosed with the disease.
Bahrain has one of the highest recovery rates in the GCC, over 92 % were recovered from the deadly pathogen. So far, 47,950 people have been diagnosed with the disease in Bahrain. Of these, 179 died. 44,278 were cured.
Last week, Abu Dhabi-based G42 Healthcare announced that it would extend the Phase III trials of its coronavirus vaccine to Bahrain volunteers. The vaccine, Covid Wax, manufactured by Sinofam CNBG in China, is currently being tested in Bahrain. Many expats, including Keralites, are participating in the trial.
The expansion to Bahrain is the third centre for the testing of the vaccine, as trials are still ongoing in the UAE.
