Around the world it is now evident that COVID-19 is a highly transmissible virus with the ability to spread rapidly. Ehteraz, the COVID-19 tracking app, is playing an important role in keeping Qatar’s population safe.
Ehteraz is a highly advanced application that has been developed to support the hard work of the frontline public health teams in the fight against COVID-19. Ehteraz supports the community with a wide range of benefits, including providing an easy way to receive the daily COVID-19 statistics and health advice.
It also reassures users about the status of others they may be in contact with by allowing them to ask to see their Ehteraz status. Ehteraz has four different colour codes. Green means healthy, yellow is quarantined, grey is suspected and red means confirmed. The app also helps people feel safe and protected in public facilities including malls, supermarkets, and offices.
Dr. Yousef Al Maslamani, Chair of the Ehteraz Joint Taskforce Committee and Hamad General Hospital Medical Director, said recently: “The success of Ehteraz in keeping people safe from COVID-19 requires the support of the population and for all citizens, residents, and visitors to download the application and ensure they have it running at all times when outside of their home. I thank the people of Qatar for the way they have positively responded to Ehteraz and welcomed it as a vital tool that is helping us all get through this difficult time.”
As Qatar continues to report a drop in daily virus cases, the Ministry of Public Health has urged the public to limit the time spent at shopping malls. Having a green Ehteraz status is mandatory to enter a mall. The Ministry of Interior has deployed foot patrols in public areas, mostly commercial complexes, to check people’s compliance with precautionary measures and keeping the Ehteraz app active.
Ever since Qatar announced its revised COVID-19 travel policy at the end of July, Ehteraz has been supporting people undergoing hotel and home quarantine after returning from abroad. Most passengers arriving from abroad have their Ehteraz status set to yellow for the duration of their quarantine. They must perform a swab test on day six and their Ehteraz status will not turn green until the swab test is performed and a negative result has been verified. This process helps to reduce the risk of returning travellers bringing the virus back into Qatar.
The Ehteraz app has helped in limiting the spread of the virus thereby protecting citizens, residents, family members and the entire community.
