SEVEN out of 16 members of a Bahraini family infected with Covid-19 are children, it was revealed, reports the GDN’s Raji Unnikrishnan.

The Health Ministry yesterday revealed new contact tracing details on its website in which it said that 15 of the family members, including a 71-year-old woman contracted the virus from a 40-year-old Bahraini woman (case 2930).

The children include a one-year-old girl (case 3075), a 10-year-old boy (case 3074), two 11-year-old girls (cases 3055 and 3043), a 12-year-old girl (case 3081), a 14-year-old boy (case 3083) and a 17-year-old boy (case 3068).

The remaining eight adults include four women and four men aged between 29 and 49 (cases 3044, 3079, 3082, 3085, 3086, 3118, 3122 and 3170).

The ministry said on May 5 that the family was infected because they violated social distancing guidelines and measures put in place to limit the spread of the virus.

This was followed by another similar case on Wednesday in which 33 members of a Bahraini family were found to have been infected from a common contact.

This prompted authorities to reiterate the importance of strictly following the health guidelines during Ramadan, which includes a restriction on family gatherings, iftars and ghabgas.

Bahrain has also banned public iftars, Ramadan majlises and public gatherings of more than five people.

Bahrain witnessed an increase in the number of cases last week, which according to Health Ministry Under-Secretary Dr Waleed Al Manea was the outcome of “reckless non-compliance” of health guidelines.

The 16-member family was part of 564 cases that were yesterday updated on the ministry’s website dedicated to Covid-19.

The latest update includes 10 other children; a four-year-old Pakistani boy (case 2929), a 16-year-old Bahraini boy (case 3078) and a 11-year-old Bahraini boy (3445) – all three tested positive after developing symptoms and contact tracing is ongoing.

Two Indian girls, a two-year-old (case 3313) and a seven-year-old (case 3314) tested positive after coming in contact with case 2862.

While a third Indian girl, aged 13, (case 3215) tested positive as a contact of a case 2573. Contact tracing is ongoing on all of them.

A Bahraini boy, 17, (case 3377) tested positive as a contact of case 3074, who in turn contracted the virus from case 2930.

An 18-year-old Yemeni boy (case 3394) was tested positive as a contact of fellow national, a 32-year-old man (case 3155) who tested positive as part of the random samples from the community.

The latter is also the contact for two other Yemeni men, aged 27 and 32, (cases 3395 and 3397). Contact tracing is ongoing on all the cases.

Two Bahraini children aged eight and one (cases 3420 and 3421) were also tested positive as a contact of case 3236, a 42-year-old citizen, who contracted the virus from case 2785, a 38-year-old Yemeni man.

He also infected four other Yemenis (cases 2950, 2928, 2927, 2924) which were reported earlier.

Yesterday’s latest update also includes 59 Bahrainis, 267 Indians, 136 Bangladeshis, 48 Nepalis, 27 Pakistanis, nine Yemenis, six Filipinos, two each from Kenya, Sri Lanka and Uganda and one Saudi.

The list also features five new nationalities – one Sudanese, one Mexican, one Emirati, one Turkish and one Indonesian.

The 23-year-old Sudanese man (case 3088) and the Emirati woman, aged 57, (case 2926) tested positive during the country’s random sample testing campaign and their contact tracing is ongoing.

The 55-year-old Mexican man (case 3010) tested positive on arrival from the UK on April 29.

The Turkish woman, aged 38 (case 3297), and the Indonesian woman (case 3302) tested positive after developing symptoms. Contact tracing is ongoing in both cases.

Another highlight from the latest update is a Bangladeshi man, aged 41, (case 3048) who has been added to the list of as many as 117 cases that contracted the virus from a 35-year-old Nepali man (case 885).

The GDN previously reported that case 885 tested positive after developing symptoms.

Eleven cases, all men aged between 22 and 59, (eight Indians, two Pakistanis and one Bangladeshi) were infected from a common contact – case 3185, a 37-year-old Indian who tested positive after developing symptoms. Contact tracing is ongoing in all cases.

The new updated list also includes 203 cases that tested positive during random sampling in the community, including Bahrainis and expats.