Doha: Qatar is recording positive Covid-19 cases with the new variant known as B.1.1.7 (UK strain), a senior health official said in a press conference today.
“We continue to see a significant number of new cases each day and everyday people are becoming sick due to the COVID-19 with many requiring admissions to the hospital to manage their symptoms and even admission into ICU for life-saving treatment,” Chair of the National Health Strategic Group on COVID-19 and Head of Infectious Diseases at Hamad Medical Corporation Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal said during a press conference.
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Important points from Dr Khal:
Since the introduction of restrictions at the start of February, the combined efforts of the government and members of the community have succeed in slowing the rate of increase for new COVID-19 cases in Qatar.
However, we continue to see a significant number of new cases each day and everyday people are becoming sick due to the COVID-19 with many requiring admissions to hospitals to manage their symptoms and even admission into ICU for life-saving treatment.
Qatar's strict quarantine policy for returning travelers enabled us to delay the introduction of new variants into this country for several months but we are now seeing positive COVID-19 cases in the region and in Qatar with the new variant known as B.1.1.7 (UK strain)
This new variant is much more contagious and spread more easily between people than the existing strain and may be associated with increased severity of the disease
The good news is that the Pizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines being used in our vaccination program are effective against the new variants
More than 380,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered since the start of the COVID-19 National Vaccination Program, with more than 15,000 a day at present, and it is reassuring to know that no serious side effects have been reported.
We continue to monitor the risk of infection within schools and it is pleasing that with schools strictly enforcing the preventive measures we are not seeing any spikes in infection caused by transmission within schools
However, with government schools beginning their post-exam break, it is important that parents and children continue to follow the preventive measures throughout the break to prevent a rise in infections among children before returning to school classrooms in a few weeks
The pace of the vaccination program means that there is finally hope of a gradual return to normal for us here in Qatar and people around the world. But this will not happen in the next few weeks or months.
COVID-19 will continue to be a threat to our health for the majority of 2021 and until all eligible members of our population have been vaccinated, we must continue to follow the preventive measures.Qatar has witnessed a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases over the past weeks. Cas-es have gone up four times from January. Cases of severe infection with the coronavirus which require hospitalisation have increased significantly, at a rate of more than 3 times from January
