Saudi Gazette report

MANAMA — Bahrain has decided to suspend dine-in services in restaurants and cafes and move public and private schools to remote learning for three weeks to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The move, which was announced by the National Medical Taskforce for Combating Coronavirus (COVID-19), comes after the country’s health ministry said it has detected a new variant of coronavirus without giving details on the kind of the virus.

The new measures will come into force on Jan. 31 (Sunday).

As part of the decision, the physical attendance in public and private schools, government and private higher education institutions, and kindergartens licensed by the Ministry of Education will be suspended and replaced with remote learning.

Members of the administrative, educational and technical bodies in all institutions covered by the decisions are excluded from decisions to suspend attendance.

The taskforce has also directed restaurants and cafes to stop providing internal services for a period of three weeks, beginning on Jan. 31.