Saudi brides are demandinggrooms produce negative COVID-19 PCR tests as part of pre-marital screening.

The controversial demand drew mixed reactions in Saudi Arabia, with some respondents considering it natural to ensure the safety of the family and its children, especially since thehe test is widely accepted and facilitated at hospitals and clinics across the Kingdom.

Others saw the condition as arbitrary and an indication ofa negativefuture marital life. They branded the test sophisticated and made for showing off, especially since there is no guarantee that a partner will not be infected by coronavirus by well-wishers on the wedding night, despite passing the test.

Wedad Saad, a Saudi bride, insisted before setting her wedding date for the wedding that the groom undergo a PCR test. She told Okaz: “I asked my family to inform the groom of the pre-martial screening condition because of the fears and anxiety that I had about this deadly disease.

The party was two days later, the incubation period of the virus is 14 days, so I was afraid that he might be infected and transmit the disease to me.”

Saad added that the epidemic that has swept the world is strange and ruthless, and has killed tens of thousands, including a relative whopicked up the infection from a woman who visited her.

All these justifications prompted her to demand the groom undergo the PCR test, she said.

Psychologist Doaa Zahran criticised some people’s resorting to certain requirements to show off, trying to make abig impression on social media.

However, Zahran stressed the threat of contagion can twist psychological responses to ordinary interactions, leading to unexpected behaviour.

“Rarely has the threat of disease occupied so much of our thinking. For months, almost every newspaper has stories about the coronavirus pandemic on its front page; radio and TV programmes have back-to-back coverage on the latest death tolls; and social media platforms are filled with frightening statistics, practical advice or gallows humour,” she said.

She argued this constant bombardment resulted in heightened anxiety, with immediate effects on our mental health. “But the constant feeling of threat may have other, more insidious, effects on our psychology.

Due to some deeply evolved responses to disease, fears of contagion lead us to become more conformist and tribalistic, and less accepting of eccentricity.

Our moral judgements become harsher and our social attitudes more conservative when considering issues such as freedom and equality. Daily reminders of disease may even sway our viewpoints and affiliations.”

Zahran added that during the lockdown, many people were quarantined and cut off, and their lives stopped. Their concern must be respected, and this entailed changes in social events and holding virtual parties.

She said demanding a negative PCR test is psychologically and socially speaking incorrect and unacceptable, advising a partner who contracted the infection to postpone the wedding, so that the couple is safe.

“The question here is: If the marriage is completed and during the wedding ceremony, a partner who is afraid of contracting the infection, has become infected, does the other partner have the right to revoke the marriage contract?,” Zahran said.

Zahran added:“There is a thin hair between candor and rudeness, you may offend the other or those around you without knowing. Put yourself in the place of the opposite person. If you accept them, you accept their reaction.”

Unlike others, Dr. Nizar Bahbari, consultant internal medicine and infectious diseases, believes that there is no justification for the bride to request that the groom pass the PCR test, and if she requested it before marriage, what is the guarantee that her husband will not become ill after the nuptials have taken place?

Bahbari said: “I do not see a justification for all this anxiety and phobia of the virus to the extent that it has become a threat to the stability of families and one of the preconditions for marriage, becoming a point of contention between the partners, throughout their lives. The husband, of course, will not forget the strange condition.”

Dr. Shaden Wafa, master of public health, supports the idea of including PCR in the pre-marital screening and says there is no harm in that.

She asks what is the harm in producing a negative PCR test before the marriage contract to ensure the health of the couple?

“In the event that a spouse is found to have contracted the virus after marriage, the ensuing problems and crises exceed the severity of COVID-19 itself,”

Dr. Nour Al Jarba is surprised by the COVID-19 test requirement, because it is not a genetic disease that can affect the future of grooms and their children.

“COVID-19 neither requires treatment for years and nor is difficult to cure, unlike Aids, for example, and it is not a chronic disease that causes lnog-term damage to one of the organs like hepatitis C virus, which requires lifelong follow-up.

It is just a contagious virus, and newlyweds can isolate themselves for 14 days during the engagement and marriage stages,” Dr Al Jarba said.

Dr. Al Jarba wonders whether one of the couples has the right to impose this condition.

Sheikh Adel Al Kalbani affirmed the right of both partners to stipulate that a negative PCR test be included in the pre-marital screening, which is a regular condition and there is no objection to adding new diseases to the screening.

What is pre-marital screening?

Premarital screening is defined as a test in which couples that are going to get married are tested for genetic, infectious and blood transmitted diseases to prevent any risk of transmitting any disease to their children.

Nowadays premarital testing is considered an important issue, as a result of the increasing in the number of children affected with genetic or blood transmitted diseases.

Importance of premarital screening

Hereditary diseases, specifically sickle cell disease and to a lesser extent thalassemia, are present with a high prevalence in the Gulf region and cause great suffering.

Premarital screening has been made mandatory by most GCC and other Arab countries.