A NUMBER of businesses in Bahrain have started reporting suspected cases in their premises, writes the GDN's Raji Unnikrishnan.

This transparency has helped the Health Ministry’s contact tracing method identify people infected with the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19).

Close to 50 cases have been identified in the past two weeks, details of which have been published on the ministry’s web page dedicated to Covid-19.

Alosra Supermarket yesterday announced a temporary shutdown of its outlet at Najibi Centre in Saar over suspicion of a Covid-19 case among one of its team members.

However, the case from a customer service centre at the store has not been confirmed positive yet.

“The outlet is closed for disinfection; when we reopen we will deploy a new team while the existing team will self isolate as a standard precautionary measure,” said the store on its social media accounts.

It added that all other outlets and online delivery service will remain open as normal.

Standard Chartered Bank announced its branch at the centre will remain closed until further notice.

However, it added, its other branches in Manama, Riffa and Hidd and all other banking services including ATMs remain functional.

Meanwhile, Almoayyed Towers in Seef responded to social media reports on Monday that a person at one of its tenant outlets had tested positive for Covid-19.

It said the ministry had completed contact tracing and identified all people who had come in contact with the case.

“All have tested negative,” it added.

“The person did not have access to the tower lift, turnstiles or reception and was confined only to the ground floor retail space which has all been subsequently sanitised and deemed safe by the ministry.”

Meanwhile, Al Jazira Supermarket said that its Budaiya store was sanitised yesterday. It said all areas outside and around the store was disinfected, while the outlet remained open and was operating as normal.