Health authorities have extended Phase 3.
Restrictions imposed as part of Qatar’s Phase 3 will remain in place for the entirety of August, the Ministry of Public Health confirmed on Thursday.
Authorities said they will continue to “monitor key performance indicators to ensure a balance between the continuity of providing protection to the population on the one hand and restoring social and economic life to normal, on the other hand,” according to a statement.
The Ministry of Public Health announces the continuation of Phase 3 of the Gradual Lifting of COVID-19 Restrictions imposed due to the pandemic pic.twitter.com/SaIOKxOv07
— وزارة الصØØ© العامة (@MOPHQatar) July 29, 2021
The announcement comes just a day ahead of the planned launch of Phase 4 on Friday.
While it is unclear why Phase 3 was extended, it comes just a day after health authorities reported more than 200 daily Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.
Some 117 of the new cases were detected among the local community cases while 108 were reported in travellers returning from abroad.
The MOPH’s numbers also show one recorded death, bringing the total number of fatalities up to 601.
Read also: WHO warns of potential ‘catastrophic’ coronavirus surge in Middle East
This marks the first such increase in weeks, with official statistics up until Wednesday showing less than 100 daily positive cases.
However, the number of cases seemed to dip once more on Thursday, with 158 cases reported over the last 24 hours.
The current number of total active cases stands at 1,810.
The statement also urged those eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccination to do so “as soon as possible so that they can protect themselves, members of their families and members of society from the dangers of this disease and to contribute to the speedy return to normal life.”
More than half of the population— aged 16 and above — have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in Qatar, with recent statistics from the ministry showing over 1.6 million people are now fully vaccinated.
According to the figures, 70.5% of those 16 and over have received both doses.
Meanwhile, 98.6% of those aged 60 and above received the first dose with 93.5% of this age group now fully vaccinated.
Since the start of the country’s National Vaccination Campaign, 3,752,281 vaccine doses have been administered. The country has been expanding its vaccination campaign in recent months to ensure the community’s safety— administrating over 2,000 doses daily.
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