According to the Ministry of Public Health’s weekly status report, the number of daily average cases in the community and among travellers decreased slightly this week.
Staff and employees working at state-run schools and kindergartens are required to conduct mandatory rapid Covid-19 tests to detect virus infections during the new academic year 2022-2023, Qatar health authorities announced.
This includes both administrative and educational employees and encompasses those that have been vaccinated or previously contracted the virus. The rapid test has to be completed less than 48 hours before the start of school hours.
Staff can pick up free rapid self-examination tests for Covid-19 virus at health centres affiliated to their place of employment from this week.
Employees will have to then submit the results to the appointed school nurse.
Health authorities also stressed the need to follow up with the school administration, to ensure that all employees are committed to filling out the pledge form, in order to monitor the statistics of positive and negative cases within the school.
Qatar’s new academic school year starts next week.
According to the Ministry of Public Health’s weekly status report, the number of daily average cases in the community and among travellers decreased slightly this week.
There have been no deaths reported in the last seven days.
Meanwhile, official figures from Monday showed 712 positive cases among the community and 107 from travellers. This followed a spike in numbers over the last few weeks that led to the reinstatement of mask mandates in Qatar.
Global rise
Worldwide, there has been a notable rise in daily Covid-19 infections as more countries ease pandemic-related restrictions.
In late July, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Ghebreyesus said the pandemic is “far from over” with Covid-19 fatalities on the rise over the past five weeks.
The WHO official urged the international community to vaccinate the most at-risk groups, including 100% of health and care workers and 100% of the elderly.
“We continue to urge all countries to strive for the target of 70% vaccination coverage, with a focus on targeted vaccination strategies that prioritise the most vulnerable, which is the most effective way to save lives,” he said.
Reuters reported on 13 July that there has been a spread of the BA.5, which is part of the Omicron variant. The variant is behind 52% of worldwide cases in late June, with the US believed to be representing up to 65% of infections.
“BA.5 has a growth advantage over the other sub lineages of Omicron that are circulating,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said earlier this month.
The WHO has been tracking the variant since April, after initially identifying it in January this year and does not appear to be more dangerous than Omicron’s other variants.
“We have ample evidence that people who’ve been infected with Omicron are getting infected with BA.5. No question about it,” said Gregory Poland, a virologist and vaccine researcher with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, as quoted by Reuters.
