New COVID-19 guidelines for entering Bahrain through causeway
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
The King Fahad Causeway Authority has issued new health guidelines to be followed by Bahraini citizens and authorised travellers before entering the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The guidelines indicate the need to submit themselves to Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, a pre-laboratory procedure to detect the coronavirus (COVID-19), before entering the Kingdom in one of the accredited Bahraini or Saudi laboratories.
The test result is valid for 72 hours. The traveller will shoulder the cost of the test at BD40 during their arrival.
The Authority indicated that there are five groups who are exempted from the PCR test, namely: accredited diplomats and their families returning from an official government mission; foreign military personnel on official missions and their families returning from treatment trips at the expense of the Ministry of Health and their companions; participants in clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine in Bahrain; and children under the age of six years.
The test result is accepted through the “BeAware Bahrain” application or one of the official smart phone applications in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The original pre-examination certificates issued by Bahraini or Saudi laboratories accredited by Bahrain are also accepted.
Travellers without pre-examination certificates must undergo PCR test in a designated area of the King Fahad Causeway, and examination fees can be paid upon arrival in cash, debit or credit cards.
Upon reaching Bahrain, all incoming travellers are required to self-isolate until receiving a negative result. Travellers who will stay in Bahrain for a period of 10 days or more must undergo the PCR test on the tenth day of arrival in the Kingdom.
In the event of a positive test result, the individual will be contacted by the Kingdom’s health authorities and provided with appropriate instructions to be followed.
Bahrain urges all arriving passengers to vigilantly follow all health and precautionary measures and social distancing guidelines issued by relevant authorities within the Kingdom.
Masks must be worn at all times when out in public, and gatherings must be avoided. The kingdom reiterates the importance of self-isolating and contacting the hotline no. 444 if one experiences flu-related symptoms such as a headache, coughing, loss of sense of smell and taste, body aches and pains, and a fever.
In August last year, Bahrain reopened the King Fahad Causeway bridge linking the Kingdom with Saudi Arabia for truck drivers after months of closures due to the pandemic.
The decision was made following an agreement with the Saudi General Customs Authority enabling manufacturers in the Kingdom to distribute products to the wider region.
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