Migrant workers with COVID-19: a major challenge for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to curb the spread of infection

Abstract

The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar) host the majority of the estimated 23 million international migrants working in the Arab states. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve across the GCC states, the health authorities have reported a considerable number of non-national confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region. In Gulf countries, where more than half of the population are foreigners, migrant workers are more likely to contract and spread the disease due to numerous contributing factors. In this regard, unhygienic and overcrowded living conditions, barriers in accessing national or private health services, challenges in accessing accurate health information related to COVID-19, and lack of facemasks and hand hygiene facilities in their housing camps are the major factors that we identified and discuss in this paper. Moreover, we formulated specific recommendations for relevant authorities to overcome the challenges related to migrant workers during this pandemic situation. Because the migrant workers with COVID-19 infection could subsequently lead to more widespread community transmission, protecting this vulnerable group means reducing the risk of transmission for the entire population. It is essential to include migrant workers in all aspects of the response to COVID-19, such as prevention, detection, access to treatment, and containment measures.