The government has further relaxed the COVID-19 restrictions in the country, following a significant fall in the number of new COVID-19 cases over the past few months. Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani chaired a Cabinet meeting yesterday, which reviewed the COVID-19 situation in the country.
The government has removed the restrictions on carrying capacity in the public and private transport as well as at all public and private places, both indoors and outdoors. However, people not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will be required to undergo a rapid antigen test not older than 24 hours to be able to enter indoor public places such as gyms, weddings, sports events, conferences and exhibitions, restaurant and cafes, amusement parks and swimming pools, and theatres and cinemas. New rules also specify that unvaccinated people cannot exceed 20 percent of the total capacity of any indoor public space.
Unvaccinated workers in the public or private sector are still required to produce a rapid antigen test every week. Masks also remain compulsory at all indoor public places, and at organised public events outdoors. Keeping the Ehteraz app active on mobile phones is also compulsory at public places. The new decisions will be effective from Saturday.
Due to effective and timely measures taken by the government, the new daily cases have been significantly reduced in recent weeks. The number of new cases in the current wave of infections, fuelled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19, has fallen below 150. At the peak of the third wave in January, the Ministry of Public Health reported over 4,000 cases detected in 24 hours. Yesterday, the country reported a total of 130 new cases, including nine among travellers coming from abroad.
The relaxation of restrictions comes amid a faster rollout of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots. So far, the country has administered over 6.4 million vaccine doses, including over 1.3 million booster shots. With over 88 percent population fully vaccinated, Qatar has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world. So far, Qatar has reported 672 deaths from COVID-19. Thanks to effective handling the pandemic by the government, this is one of the lowest mortality rate in the world.
According to MoPH, 10 COVID-19 patients are currently in the ICU and another 28 are in hospitals, which shows the disease is still a danger and people must continue following the precautionary guidelines.
