THIRTY-SEVEN major companies in Bahrain have rectified the situation at their labour camps to ensure social distancing, as part of efforts to contain the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19), writes the GDN's Raji Unnikrishnan.

Another 131 companies have been given five working days to follow suit, as the Labour and Social Development Ministry launched yet another campaign yesterday targeting employers.

The campaign follows the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, a senior labour official told the GDN.

“As per the existing labour law, there should be four-metre free space around every employee in a labour camp,” he said.

“We are trying to make this real, and yes, this is a challenge, but we should do our best.

“We are launching a campaign today with employers, to follow up last week’s instructions by the Labour Minister.”

In a circular to employers, Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Humaidan had laid out strict stipulations for labour camps following a surge in Covid-19 infections among migrant workers.

Almost 90 per cent of the active cases are among migrant workers, according to the Healthy Ministry’s data.

“The most important aim of the campaign is to reduce the numbers of employees in the camps,” said the official.

“Each employer should also provide separate accommodation for the infected, a capacity for at least 10 per cent of his staff strength in the camps.”

There are 2,200 registered labour camps in the country, he said.

“So far only around 15pc of registered labour camps have responded to the ministerial directive.

“Thirty-seven companies have responded while 131 employers have requested for time.

“They have been given five working days and a special team is following up on this.

“We are also liaising with the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry, as there are accommodations outside labour camps permitted by employers, which do not come in our scope of work.

“A co-ordination committee with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority and the Interior Ministry is also working to tackle the situation in unregistered accommodations.”

The official noted that the employers could make use of a number of empty buildings across the country to accommodate the workers.

“There are a lot of properties which are not being used and the rent is also low these days,” he said.

The GDN reported last week that gatherings at labour camps led to the spike in the number of infections amongst this population, as reiterated by senior members of the National Taskforce to Combat Coronavirus.

Employers should also provide details on the number of employees using transportation provided by the company.

They must also maintain a registry of regular sanitisation and disinfection procedures carried out at labour camps.

In addition, they should also provide face masks to employees, details of which should be given to the ministry, along with ways of implementing the decision to make the use of masks compulsory.