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Bahrain’s Ministry of Health has announced a new initiative by which COVID-19 test results will be delivered to citizens by instant messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. 

With that, the Kingdom has become the first country in the world to use these popular platforms on an official level for sharing COVID-19 reports with patients. Several other countries and global institutions including New Zealand, Singapore, and the World Health Organization (WHO) have been mulling over rolling out an official chat channel for the same purpose.

The Bahraini government has confirmed that all test results will be delivered by a chatbot and the reports will be available in both Arabic and English. 

Dr. Waleed Al Manea, from Bahrain’s Health Ministry, said, “We are working to reach a bigger and wider community in our health efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19.”

It is worth noting that the chat service, available publicly for free, will also share up-to-date information on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic along with direct links to guidance videos on YouTube and Bahrain’s official COVID-19 Be Aware app.

Bahrain has so far done a great job by containing the spread of the pandemic within its borders at the minimal level. With the fifth-highest testing rates in the world, the Kingdom has gradually relaxed the country-wide lockdown across pretty much all walks of life.