Doha: Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Chair of the National Health Strategic Group on COVID-19 and Head of Infectious Diseases at Hamad Medical Corporation, said during a press conference to explain the Covid-19 situation in Qatar, that we have both UK and South Africa Covid-19 variants circulating in Qatar.
SUMMARY OF KEY MESSAGES
• During the past two weeks we have seen a significant increase in the number of new daily COVID-19 cases and we have recorded more than 900 new cases each day in the past few days.
• Of particular concern is the high number of people in intensive care. This figure is now significantly higher than at the peak of the first wave last year.
• Despite our strict quarantine policy that is in place for all travelers, the South Africa variant has now made its way into the community - meaning we have both the UK and South Africa variants circulating.
• Both these new strains cause more severe symptoms than the original strain and we believe the South Africa variant has had a significant impact on the rise in COVID-19 cases in the past ten days.
• Despite the rise in people requiring admission to hospital, the healthcare system has sufficient capacity to ensure everyone who needs medical care can receive it without delay.
• While managing to keep the virus under control throughout the last quarter of 2020, Qatar maintained a set of strict policies aimed at preventing a second wave.
• We continued to keep in place measures to prevent the virus from spreading - this included quarantine for travelers, mask wearing, social distancing, limits on gatherings, temperature and Ehteraz checks in all public buildings, and blended learning in schools.
• Despite these ongoing efforts to prevent a second wave, Qatar, like many countries in the region and around the world, has not been able to prevent a second wave.
