Bahrain Mirror (2021 Panorama): 2021 was a hard year on Bahrainis following the Coronavirus outbreak and the infection of more than 188,000 throughout the year.

The Delta mutated virus that was first discovered in India made things worse and led to the death of more than 700 in May and June, which were the worst months in terms of casualties and deaths since the pandemic outbreak.

The government's greed and search for more revenues, as well as vaccinating most of the residents with the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine, which has proved to be ineffective with the Delta mutated virus, have caused an incredible increase in the number of casualties and deaths.

At the beginning of the year, Bahrain canceled Coronavirus tests for all arrivals through the land port (King Fahd Causeway) under the condition of receiving a negative test result taken no more than 72 hours prior, with the aim of resuming tourism in the country, after a year of severe economic stagnation due to the pandemic.

Bahrain launched a widespread campaign to vaccinate citizens and residents, succeeding in persuading residents to receive vaccines in health centers, mostly providing the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine adopted by Bahrain to satisfy the UAE, the largest investor in the vaccine-producing company.

However, the virus began to spread significantly in February, and reached the prisons, leading to the virus outbreak among political prisoners, who subsequently suffered medical negligence and lack of daily meals due to prison police fearing of the virus spreading.

Following demands from activists and families of inmates, the authorities released dozens of political prisoners under the Alternative Penal Code to reduce prison overcrowding. Mohammad Jawad Perves and Shiite cleric Sayed Kamel Al-Hashimi were the most prominent figures released.

As part of its attempts to encourage citizens and residents to take vaccines, Bahrain (April 7) required immunization through its approved vaccinations against Coronavirus to obtain a number of services, mainly: internal services in restaurants and cafés, indoor gyms, indoor swimming pools, cinema halls, gaming centers, venues as well as attending sports events.

However, the authorities kept their measures regarding obsequies and decided to limit the attendees to 10 people only, including the broadcasting and administrative staff during the holy month of Ramadan.

After pressure from senior scholars and obsequies, the authorities decided to allow vaccinated and recovered citizens to attend religious gatherings.

In mid-April, Bahrain said it could manage to vaccinate 34% of the population. Nonetheless, this couldn't prevent the spread of the new mutated virus, which killed a number of people.

Despite the rapid spread and ferocity of the Delta mutated Coronavirus, Bahrain decided not to suspend flights with these infested countries, but turned Bahrain into a quarantine for people coming from those countries and working in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in particular.

Flights continued to arrive in Bahrain from Egypt and India, despite the terrible spread of the Delta virus. The hotel sector benefited greatly due to receiving people after a year of stagnation and recession, but those steps of purely commercial aim eventually led to the outbreak of Coronavirus among citizens.

Although the number of deaths doubled from one month to another, reaching unprecedented figures (Bahrain recorded 334 deaths in May and 372 in June), the Ministry of Health refused to acknowledge that the adopted state's policy was the cause of these casualties and deaths and the spread of the Delta variant, it attributed it to "recklessness" of citizens and residents. The health ministry undersecretary, Waleed Al-Manea, said so at a time when Bahrain was recording 20 deaths per day.

As the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine proved poor effectiveness in the face of the Delta mutated virus, the health authorities tried to correct some of these errors, introducing a (third) dose, and advised citizens and residents of the recipients of the activation dose to take the US Pfizer vaccine, specifically because of its reliable effectiveness towards the Delta mutated virus.

After the end of the Indian mutated virus wave, and with the marked increase in the number of vaccine recipients, the number of cases continued to decline. Bahrain recorded 32 deaths in July; however, they didn't exceed 4 in August. Since then, until the end of the year, no deaths have been recorded according to ministry of health figures.

But what is worrying now is the spread of the Omicron mutated virus, although it is weak and not as fierce as the Indian mutated virus, it is rapidly spreading. More than 500 cases were recorded in the past two days; this number has not been seen in Bahrain since July 17 during the peak of the outbreak of the Delta variant.

Arabic Version