The third edition of the perfume and incense exhibition was found guilty of violating three ministry guidelines relating to Covid precautionary measures.

Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has suspended the third annual Teeb Al Hazm exhibition for two days after it violated the health guidelines in place to curb the spread of coronavirus, authorities announced on Sunday.

According to the MoPH, organisers of the nine-day exhibition allowed the entry of a larger number of visitors than that which is allowed.

The second violation committed involved the lack of management of visitors at the entrances and exits, where there was no social distancing and the protocol placed by the MoPH was not adhered to.

Additionally, several visitors and exhibitors at Teeb Al Hazm did not keep their masks on, which is a major violation of the precautionary measures placed by the ministry.

While the perfume exhibition will only resume once the stakeholders comply with the preventative measure, the ministry called on all future exhibitors to abide by the regulations in place or else they would face similar consequences.

May people took to social media criticising the event shortly after it kicked off on November 25th, images showing a large number of people standing in close proximity in an enclosed area went viral.

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Videos too were circulated, with people calling on authorities to take action to prevent the further spread of the virus.

The exhibition was scheduled to take place from November 25 until December 4.

Read also: Authorities to prosecute over 400 people for face mask violations

Qatar’s health authorities have been continuing their efforts in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, the Ministry of Interior began prosecuting people for not wearing face masks in public or not adhering to the limit of passengers allowed per vehicle.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, more than 1,000,000 people have been tested for the novel coronavirus, which has been a major factor in containing the spread of the disease.

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.

While there seem to be no signs of a second wave, the MoPH stressed the importance of abiding by the health measures in place until the long-awaited vaccine is available either by the end of this year or beginning of 2021.