More than six months have passed since the detection of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan city, the sprawling capital of Central China’s Hubei province, which has since gradually spread to other countries too. For the last several months the peace of every nook and corner of the world has been shattered by the juggernaut of the pandemic, affecting normal life and economic activities, bringing the globe to a standstill. People suddenly felt the concept of global village turning back into remote islands as international travel and trade were stymied. Several countries declared lockdowns and closed provinces and cities, forcing people to stay at the safety of their homes, which put an abrupt stop to almost every economic activity.
But realising economy and business are the backbones of the existence of any country, several states started relaxing lockdown measures, though in some countries experts were warning that the reopening measures were immature and without much thought.
The State of Qatar also was not spared by the COVID-19 pandemic and before it came calling at its shores, the leaders of the country had done enough home work to deal with the arrival of the inevitable. Qatar was well-prepared to deal with pandemic since the first case was detected in the country.
The Supreme Committee for Crisis Management has been keenly following the developments, giving wise instructions to every agency involved in the fight against the pandemic, deciding which measure would be the best for each citizen and resident. Several steps were announced to stem the spread of the virus, new hospitals were built, several hospitals were made exclusive centres for COVID-19 patients, several quarantine centres were made ready, offices closed or placed restriction on the number of people present.
All these measures paid off as Qatar is still one of the countries with lowest death rate, and all who are detected with COVID-19 are getting best treatment options available in the world free of cost.
Now the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management has announced a four-phase programme to relax the control measures to bring life back to normalcy in the country. The well thought-out plan can be a model for others who are in the same predicament as the full reopening of all activities will happen only by September 1, by which time hopefully the number of COVID-19 cases in Qatar will be zero.
But whatever the decision of the authorities, it will be hinged on the behaviour of the people, meaning if people follow the guidelines to control the spread of the virus strictly, reopening will be faster and normalcy will return soon, otherwise we will have to bear the brunt for months.
