WHO Director General praises Bahrain's efforts in combating COVID-19

Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, praised the efforts of the Kingdom of Bahrain in supporting the organisation's role in facing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. He lauded the kingdom’s remarkable role in curbing the spread of the virus by taking effective preventive measures. He also praised Bahrain’s solidarity with the other member states of the organisation in taking comprehensive measures and unifying efforts to quickly find the necessary treatment.

This came in a letter received by Health Minister Faeqa bint Said Al-Saleh from the WHO Director General, in response to her congratulations on success of the 73rd World Health Assembly’s session, which was held for the first time at a distance and achieved forecast goals by coming up with important health-related decisions to address the repercussions of COVID-19.

Dr. Tedros praised the Kingdom of Bahrain for adopting a comprehensive approach to handle the pandemic by taking precautionary measures in a proactive and extremely effective way to slow the spread of the virus. He also lauded the kingdom’s continuous coordination with the organisation to follow up on the development of the virus and the organisation’s decisions in this regard.

The WHO Director General stressed continued support of the organisation to Bahrain's steps to address various pandemics, especially COVID-19, achieve its health priorities and follow up on the implementation of resolution WHA 73.1 of the World Health Assembly, issued in its 73rd session, on tackling coronavirus and preventing its spread.

It is worth noting that Bahrain has taken proactive precautionary measures to mitigate the spread of the virus by implementing the highest tracking standards to know the details of the impact of contacts. Bahrain has also made efforts to increase the capacity of hospitals, precautionary quarantine centers, and isolation and treatment centers. It has also increased the number of laboratory tests, intensive care equipment, and personal protective equipment. A complete plan was also drawn up to recruit, qualify and train the necessary manpower. It succeeded in handling cases and improving therapeutic capacity, as demonstrated by effective treatment protocols in the Kingdom of Bahrain which helped in treating a large number of existing cases. Bahrain was the first Arab country to join a "solidarity test" to test the first vaccine, and start clinical trials of treatment with blood plasma.

It is worth mentioning that Dr. Tedros has recently congratulated His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa on the Cabinet’s approval of the Bahraini Doctor Day, and allocating an award named after HRH the Premier to honor distinguished Bahraini doctors for their outstanding medical and therapeutic researches. He also lauded the kingdom’s participation in honoring the workers in the health sector in recognition of their efforts, mainly in combating COVID-19 pandemic. He also underlined the positive effect of this step in motivating various countries in the region to emulate Bahrain in honoring doctors and other workers in the health field.