OVER the past seven months, Qatar has achieved remarkable success against the novel coronavirus pandemic. The country witnessed a major outbreak of the pandemic, recording around 129,000 cases. However, country’s proactive approach and a wellprepared healthcare system have resulted in one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rate in the world, with 222 people dying from the disease so far. Close to 126,000 people infected with the virus have already fully recovered. The country has also tested more than 855,000 people for the virus so far. The first COVID-19 case was reported in Qatar on February 28, in a young Qatari male who had returned from Iran, while the first COVID-19 case diagnosed from the community was on March 8. Steps that have helped the country effectively control the pandemic and largely avoid a second wave which has gripped many countries, include early preventive and precautionary measures; a proactive approach to trace, test and isolate; and expansion of the healthcare facilities to sufficiently cater to all the cases. The Ministry of Public Health had set up several field hospitals at the start of the pandemic to cater to COVID-19 patients. However, a number of these facilities have discharged their last COVID-19 patient and returned to normal operations. The 504-bed Libsear Field Hospital, a joint initiative of the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Defence, discharged its last COVID-19 patient earlier this month. The country has also gradually reopened all businesses and international travel but has kept the number of daily new cases in check, thanks to its continued proactive testing and effective quarantine rules for incoming passengers. Officials say COVID-19 mortality rate in Qatar has been 10 times lower than the global average. The mortality rate among patients in ICU is also much lower than in other countries. Health officials have described the current situation in the country as steady and stable and say, unlike many other countries, there are no signs of a second wave in the country. The country is also in advanced talks with a number of pharma firms to procure the potential COVID-19 vaccine, and has already signed an agreement with Pfizer and BioNTech to supply it with their BNT162 mRNA-based candidate vaccine against COVID-19. The vaccine is still undergoing clinical trials. Supply is planned for the end of 2020 to 2021, subject to clinical success and necessary regulatory approvals. The government has also announced to provide the vaccine to everyone in Qatar free of cost at the earliest.
