A MOTHER and daughter duo, behind a social awareness campaign to thank healthcare workers in the country, have urged people to stay indoors when they join hands for tomorrow’s initiative, reports the GDN’s Raji Unnikrishnan.

Anglo-Irish Hannah Turner and her 11-year-old daughter Saoirse Lynch, who initiated the campaign ‘Clap for our Carers’, said the gesture is meant to thank healthcare professionals working on the frontlines in the fight against Covid-19.

The campaign is asking people to clap for nurses, doctors and other medical professionals at 8pm tomorrow from their balconies, gardens and living rooms.

Ms Turner told the GDN that the initiative followed in the footsteps of a similar move in the UK last week, saluting national healthcare workers dealing with the pandemic.

“The idea came to us after we missed joining people back home to clap for the national healthcare workers and so we did that here in Bahrain from our balcony,” said Ms Turner, a teacher and chairwoman of the Manama Theatre Club.

“We felt good doing that and while we were standing there and looking at the empty streets of Bahrain (we thought that) we should be doing something like that here.”

Ms Turner, who has been living in Bahrain with her family since 2006, said they have been overwhelmed with the outpour of support for the campaign and for the country’s healthcare workers, despite some claims that the initiative could be violating regulations.

She explained yesterday that the initiative aims to bring people together without breaking any guidelines put in place to protect the public from the spread of the coronavirus.

“We have seen and heard some of the observations on the legality of the event and having to take official permission, but we would like to clarify to everyone that this is a ‘Stay at Home’ event,” she added.

“Clap from your balconies, living rooms, windows and gardens, from wherever you are, from the safety of our homes to say thank you.

“We are encouraging people to stay at home on a Thursday evening.

“It is something positive and we are calling on everyone to do our best to help.”

People are also being encouraged to film themselves clapping from inside their homes and posting them online under the hashtags #clapforbahraincarers #teambahrain #stayathomeevent