Bahrain issues fresh covid alert after most cases of new strain detected

Agencies

February 14, 2021

Manama, Feb 14: Infectious Disease Consultant and Microbiologist at the BDF Hospital and member of the National Medical Taskforce for Combating the Coronavirus (Covid-19), Dr. Lt. Col. Manaf Al Qahtani, highlighted the importance of taking extra precautions in light of the prevalence of a variant Covid-19 strain, more highly transmittable than the original Covid-19 strain.

Dr. Al Qahtani noted that vaccines are safe and effective in preventing the spread of the virus as well as preventing serious complications from Covid-19. He further reiterated the importance of registering for the vaccine, to protect individuals, their families and the community.

Dr. Al Qahtani underlined the importance of supporting mitigation efforts and strictly following all precautionary measures advised by the National Medical Taskforce for Combatting the Coronavirus and other relevant authorities.

Moreover, Dr. Al Qahtani noted that the precautionary measures issued previously are the same measures that must be followed to combat the variant.

Dr. Al Qahtani emphasised that the variant strain from the United Kingdom has been detected in most of the current active cases, adding that the elderly are at greatest risk from the variant, adding that symptoms appear at a later stage. Dr. Al Qahtani further emphasised the importance of taking greater precautions when interacting with the elderly, or those who have chronic diseases, even within the same household.

Dr. Al Qahtani asserted that the Bahrain is the only country that requires incoming passengers to undergo a second PCR test 10 days after arrival, and data does not indicate that the recent increase in numbers is due to travel. In this respect, the official highlighted that over 250,000 contact tracing figures have indicated that most of the current cases are linked to family and private gatherings.

He stressed the importance of staying away from gatherings and limiting gatherings to individuals of the same household and immediate social circle, in addition to getting vaccinated and strictly following all the precautionary measures and regulations issued by the Taskforce and relevant authorities.

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188 Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli army in Gaza

News Network

November 10,2024

The media office in the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli regime has been waging a genocidal war since last October, says as many as 188 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the onset of the brutal military onslaught.

The office provided the figure on Saturday, naming four journalists as the most recent victims of the onslaught.

It identified the foursome as Zahraa Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Ahmad Mohammad Abu Sukheil, Mustafa Khadr Bahar, and Abdel Rahman Khadr Bahar.

The office said it “strongly condemns the targeting, killing, and assassination of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation and holds it fully responsible for committing this heinous crime.”

“We call on the international community, international organizations, and those involved in journalistic work worldwide to take action against the occupation, pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes, and pressure it to halt the genocide and the targeted killings of Palestinian journalists,” it said.

Earlier in the day, the office said the Israeli regime had bombed the tents sheltering journalists and displaced persons at the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza for the ninth consecutive time.

The atrocity that claimed the lives of two people and injured 26 others came as part of “the genocidal crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army against hospitals, civilians, and displaced persons,” it said.

The media office held the regime and the United States, its biggest ally, as well as other countries aiding the genocide fully responsible for such systematic crimes.

At least 43,552 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 102,765 others wounded since the launch of the war that followed a retaliatory operation by Gaza’s resistance groups.

The fatalities include 44 people, who were killed across the coastal sliver, in the most recent phase of the military onslaught.

As many as 24 of the victims were killed in the northern part of the territory, where the regime has markedly intensified its deadly attacks for weeks.

They included an eight-year-old child and a five-year-old one, who lost their lives after Israeli warplanes targeted a group of minors filling up jerry cans with water alongside their mother at the Jabalia Refugee camp.

Gaza’s heath ministry, meanwhile, said a number of victims remained under the rubble and in the streets following Israeli airstrikes, saying ambulances and civil defense teams could not reach them due to the sheer extent of the destruction caused by the raids and obstruction caused by the regime.

Also on Saturday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, a United Nations-backed assessment, warned that famine was looming in northern Gaza amid escalated Israeli aggression and the regime’s near-total siege of the targeted areas.

The alert from the Famine Review Committee warned of "an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine occurring, due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip."

On October 17, the body projected that the number of people in Gaza facing "catastrophic" food insecurity between November and April 2025 would reach 345,000, or 16 percent of the population.

The IPC report classified that figure as Phase 5 -- a situation when "starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident."

The Israeli military, however, questioned the report's credibility.

"To date, all assessments by the IPC have proven incorrect and inconsistent with the situation on the ground," the army said in a statement, denouncing "partial, biased data and superficial sources with vested interests."

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