Private employers in Bahrain can begin hiring foreign workers again in August after a four-month suspension in issuing work permits because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Bahrain's Labour Market Regulatory Authority said it would start accepting requests for new work permits starting from August 9, following a decision by the Government Executive Committee, chaired by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad.
The authority altered the private sector hiring process to give priority to Bahrainis and foreign residents in the kingdom, the Bahrain News Agency reported.
All vacancies must be advertised in local newspapers to give residents two weeks to apply first, the labour authority said.
The government this month decided to support the salaries of Bahrainis employed in local private businesses that have been most severely affected by the pandemic.
Bahrainis insured under the National Employment Programme will receive up to 50 per cent of their pay from the Unemployment Insurance Fund for a period of three months starting from July, the BNA reported.
Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Ali Humaidan said the sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic included travel and aviation, hospitality and restaurants, personal services (salons and gyms, games and entertainment halls), industry, health, administrative services, non-food retail, real estate and contracting, engineering and technical offices and local newspapers and magazines.
Bahrain was among the first GCC countries to implement strict containment measures after the Covid-19 pandemic broke out early this year and had recorded 40,311 cases, 144 deaths and 36,920 recoveries until July 30, according to a coronavirus tally kept by Worldometer.
_______________
Coronavirus around the world
-
A man wearing traditional dress wears a mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus during the daily re-enactment of the changing of the Royal Guards at Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul. Reuters -
A bride exchanges flower garlands with a groom as part of a traditional ritual of their social marriage function, during a lockdown imposed by the state government against the surge in Covid-19 cases, in Kolkata, India. AFP -
People take photos from a tram in town of Sóller in the Balearic Island of Mallorca, Spain. AP Photo -
Relatives of Covid-19 patients queue to recharge oxygen cylinders in Villa Maria del Triunfo, in the southern outskirts of Lima, Peru. AFP -
Medical workers evacuate a resident from the Epping Gardens aged care facility in the Melbourne suburb of Epping as the city battles fresh outbreaks of the Covid-19 coronavirus in Australia. AFP -
Health workers perform swab tests to government workers in Quezon City, northeast of Manila, Philippines. EPA -
Healthcare workers are seen at a lane near the house of a Covid-19 patient as they investigate infection links in Hanoi, Vietnam. Reuters -
A staff walks past cabinets for herbs at Zhima Health store, a cafe and healthcare retail shop owned by the traditional Chinese medicine brand Tongrentang, in Beijing, China. Reuters -
Mannequins wearing protective face masks and face shields are displayed at a market in Jakarta, Indonesia. Reuters -
A stylist cuts a customer's hair at the barber shop The Barber Job in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Getty Images -
A musician waits to play at the San Lorenzo Tezonco cemetery in Mexico City, Mexico. Reuters -
Workers prepare food to distribute in a community dining room in Bogota, Colombia. EPA -
Customers enter public bathhouse "Tomo no Yu" as a cat rests on a structure at the lobby of bath in Tokyo, Japan. Reuters -
Volunteer doctors from Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Costa Rica, arrive at the Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in Comalapa, El Salvador. AFP
