Reducing contacts ‘will help achieve goals’

BAHRAIN must target ‘reducing contacts’ to achieve its goal of containing the spread of Covid-19, urged a top medic.

Every individual must adhere to the slogan of ‘Commit to Bahrain’ to help in turning ‘danger to safety’ and ‘fear into reassurance’, added National Taskforce for Combating Coronavirus member Dr Jameela Al Salman.

The Infectious and Internal Diseases consultant at Salmaniya Medical Complex underlined the reasons why the country had suffered a sudden spike in virus cases and outlined the way forward.

“We managed to flatten the curve and reduce the infections, but negligence led to the increase,” she said, “but we can work hand-in-hand to overcome this challenge by limiting contacts at home and outside.”

She was speaking at a Press conference yesterday alongside Health Ministry Under-Secretary Dr Waleed Al Manea and Taskforce monitoring committee head Lieutenant Colonel Dr Manaf Al Qahtani.

“We stress that laxity in precautionary measures is one of the main reasons for the increase in the number of existing cases of the virus,” said Dr Al Salman.

“We must commit ourselves by reducing contacts and mixing, which is a goal that must be achieved at this stage. It requires everyone to reduce social contact – be it at home, in the workplace, or outside.

“This is in the best interest for protecting the health and safety of the family, society and the nation as a whole. By remaining committed to the cause we can turn danger into safety and fear into reassurance.”

The GDN reported last week that Bahrain has witnessed an unprecedented hike in the number of daily new cases of Covid-19 from September 3.

The community rallying call was backed by Dr Al Manea who said, “We need to adhere to the slogan of ‘commitment’ for Bahrain until October 1 – consciously and resolutely – for the benefit of the nation and its people.”

He noted that the national task force was continuously studying the indicators and reviewing the developments of the virus spread and will amend its recommendations based on the data.

“The extent to which all precautionary measures are adhered to, to limit the spread of the virus, will be taken into consideration when deciding on opening or closing various sectors,” he added.

Dr Al Qahtani reminded people of the danger of complacency, citing that the current stage of dealing with the virus requires ‘positive co-operation with efforts to confront it through community awareness and strict adherence to precautionary measures’.

“Reducing mixing is a goal that must be achieved during this stage of dealing with the virus, and social responsibility requires every person to urge his relatives and those in his surroundings to commit to this,” he said.

Source: http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/872822/Reducing-contacts-%E2%80%98will-help-achieve-goals%E2%80%99