Coronavirus: Bahrain jails COVID-19 patient for deliberately coughing on doctors

Bahrain’s public prosecutor has charged a COVID-19 patient for deliberately coughing on doctors while not wearing a facemask while visiting a coronavirus testing facility, according to local media reports.

The Public Health department in Bahrain had reported that the accused had arrived at an examination center in order to do a second COVID-19 test after his last examination had confirmed that he had tested positive for coronavirus.

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During the second visit, the defendant deliberately removed his face mask and coughed in front of the doctors present at the center, as well as intentionally coughing in his hand and then quickly touching doctors on different parts of their bodies in order to transmit the coronavirus to them, according to the local Akhbar al-Khaleej newspaper.

Bahraini health workers are pictured at the Sitra field Intensive Care Unit (ICU) hospital for COVID-19 patients, on May 4, 2020 in Sitra island south of the Bahraini capital Manama. (AFP)

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“The Public Prosecution has interrogated the accused and charged him with exposing others to infection, which is a crime under Law No. 34 of 2018 regarding public health, the penalty of which is up to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of ten thousand dinars. The Public Prosecution has also ordered that he be held in remand, and investigations are being completed in preparation for referring the accused to the competent court,” said Chief Public Prosecutor Adnan al-Wada’i.

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Bahrain reported 380 new cases of the deadly novel coronavirus on Tuesday, 205 of whom were detected in migrant workers while 166 cases due to contact with existing coronavirus patients. Nine patients out of the new confirmed cases were detected in arriving passengers from abroad while.

As of Tuesday, Bahrain has confirmed 3732 active cases, 47 of which are in critical condition. So far, 90 active cases are being treated in Bahrain while the island kingdom has confirmed 129 deaths since the outbreak of COVID-19.

Bahrain’s government said last month it would pay 50 percent of salaries for private company workers in sectors that were hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are also currently preparing to gradually reopen the King Fahd Causeway bridge linking the two countries some time after Eid al-Adha, according to sources who spoke to Dammam-based al-Yaum newspaper.