On February 24, 2020, Bahrain announced the first Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection. The deadly virus that was first discovered in China claimed the lives of 352 people, as thousands contracted the disease.

The security authorities continued their ongoing campaign since 2011 against Ashura rituals during Muharram season in 2020 by systematic restrictions imposed on religious rites of Shiite citizens.

With this tenth roundup, the decade has been completed, so this is an occasion to look over and reflect on the ten harsh years that have passed. The many definitions [in Arabic] of decade [A'qd] open one's eyes to deep perspectives.

2020 witnessed 111 violations of media freedoms and freedom of opinion and expression in Bahrain's public and virtual spaces.

Unemployment in Bahrain increased dramatically in 2020, amid the absence of real and serious solutions to the unemployment issue, which has become an additional threat to the country's stability that has been long lost for about a decade.

The Economist predicted that Bahrain's public debt will reach a new record by the end of this year, approaching the ceiling of 15 billion dinars, which constitutes about 131% of its GDP, an increase of about 2 billion dinars over last year.

The US State Department published in October 2020 an email correspondence involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which includes many details about the period when the popular movement was launched in Bahrain, and the various events that followed.

In order to reform the country's finances, the authorities have made decisions that have once again affected the livelihoods of citizens, including the suspension of retirees' annual bonus.

There are of course plenty of issues that we can put in the category of events and problems associated with the outbreak of the Coronavirus in Bahrain and the world, which has been suffering from this pandemic for more than a year.

Ten years have passed since the imprisonment of thousands of citizens in Bahrain after the February 14, 2011 uprising which called for a democratic transition of power. Since then, the issue of prisoners remained undeveloped.

2020 was a very difficult year for Bahrain which aggravated its financial crisis and put it on the brink of financial collapse and bankruptcy. Bahrain decided to review the economic program implemented on the country, which is known as the financial balance program, the Ministry of Finance announced in October.

on June 9, 2020, the security authorities released human rights activist and president of Bahrain Center for Human Rights under 2017 law which allows the courts to impose "alternative" penalties after the detainee spends half of his jail term, which Rajab finished on (November 1, 2020).

On February 24, Bahrain announced the country's first COVID-19 case on Bahraini territory. Citizens felt terrified after they received news about this case, especially as the pandemic started to spread across the world. Iran and Italy topped the statistics in terms of number of infections.

On November 11, 2020, the royal court announced the death of Bahraini Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa at the age of 84 after he had spent 49 years in office (i.e. since 1971).

On Sep. 29, 2020, Kuwait's Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah passed away after a struggle with disease and heart problems. Although Kuwait is considered the largest contributor in the Gulf Marshal project to save Bahrain finances from bankruptcy, the GoB demonstrated unexpected alienation in their stance towards the death of Kuwait's Emir.