Qatar’s interior ministry has been referring more people to the public prosecutor for violation of COVID-19 health regulations.

The Ministry of Interior (MOI) said on Sunday it was prosecuting at least 130 people for non-compliance with the government’s coronavirus mask policies.

In addition to the people who violated the mask policies, five others have also been referred to the public prosecutor for violating the vehicle limit imposed by authorities.

According to the ministry, the referrals come as part of the implementation of the cabinet decision and Law No. 17 of 1990 regarding infectious diseases, and the preventive and precautionary measures in place to limit the spread of the COVID-19.

Recently, the MOI has been carrying out a series of arrests on people who do not comply with the health regulations in place.

On Saturday, at least 94 people were referred to the prosecutor for not wearing face masks, with another 162 being penalised on Friday. In total at least 400 people are going to be prosecuted.

Read also: Qatar passes one million milestone for COVID-19 testing

Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) along with authorities have been placing strict measures in curbing the spread of the coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak.

Although the country did have the highest infections rate per capita, it has maintained the world’s lowest mortality rate.

Moreover, more than one million people have been tested for the potentially lethal virus in Qatar since the global pandemic struck the Gulf state.

According to Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Chair of the National Strategic Group on COVID-19 and Head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha’s swift response to the pandemic has prevented 1 million additional cases.

“Due to the interventions we implemented, we flattened the curve to the extent that the peak number of infections was 79 percent lower than it would have been had no public health measures been taken,” said Dr. Al Khal earlier in October.

Qatar is also going to provide free COVID-19 vaccines to everyone as soon as it is released by Pfizer and BioNTech, pharmaceutical companies which the country has signed an agreement with.

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