Bahrain cancels mandatory 10-day quarantine for all inbound travellers

The Bahrain government confirmed that the mandatory 10-day quarantine will be lifted for all incoming passengers whose Covid-19 test undertaken upon their arrival in the country is confirmed to be negative beginning on Thursday, August 20.

Passengers arriving in Bahrain will be subjected to a mandatory Covid-19 PCR test at the airport itself, with another test conducted 10 days after their arrival within the kingdom, at a total of BD60 – the cost of which will be borne by the travellers.

They must download and activate the ‘BeAware Bahrain’ application and sign a declaration stating that they will follow the Ministry of Health’s self-isolating regulations until their Covid-19 test carried out upon arrival in Bahrain is confirmed negative.

The National Medical Task Force for Combatting the Coronavirus: 10 day quarantine upon arrival to be lifted, compulsory COVID-19 testing for all incoming passengers will remain intacthttps://t.co/96LUGWqo5T

— Bahrain News Agency (@bna_en) August 19, 2020

However, those who test positive upon arrival will be contacted by officials within the country for further steps.

The latest decision was issued following a meeting of the National Medical Task Force for Combatting the Coronavirus (Covid-19), headed by Lieutenant-General Dr. Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, chairman of the Supreme Council of Health, reported state the news channel Bahrain News Agency.

The decision to do away with the mandatory 10-day quarantine for all incoming travellers regardless of their Covid-19 status, was made after the taskforce determined a 0.2 per cent average rate of positive cases among incoming travellers who conducted an exit swab after completing their 10-day quarantine period between July 1 and August 16.

The Government Executive Committee, chaired by Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister of Bahrain approved the new measures following a report submitted to it by the taskforce.

On Wednesday, the country confirmed that it had undertaken over one million Covid-19 PCR tests to screen for Covid-19 since the outbreak of the virus.

Bahrain’s Minister of Health Faeqa bint Saeed Alsaleh said that Bahrain conducted 675 tests per 1,000 people, and only 4.8 per cent of positive cases were confirmed from total tested.

The country has also reported a recovery rate of 92.2 per cent.