Authorities updated travel policies earlier this month and slashed Covid-19 PCR prices. 

Qatar’s active Covid-19 cases have now dipped below 1,000 for the first time since April 2020, recent statistics from the Ministry of Public Health [MoPH] have shown.

In the last 24 hours, 96 people recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of active cases down to 994. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 235,758 total recoveries, numbers have shown.

This marks the first such time the number of active cases has gone down to 1,000, and comes as health authorities have also seen a drastic decrease in daily reported cases in recent weeks.

On Saturday, 62 new cases were reported, 37 of which were community cases and 25 from travellers returning from abroad.

No Covid-related fatality has been reported in the last 24 hours, with the total death toll standing at 607.

No masks outdoors: Qatar loosens Covid-19 restrictions as cases decline

The hopeful figures come as health authorities in Qatar confirmed that over 82.6% of the country’s total population have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, marking a significant milestone in the country’s rapidly expanding immunisation campaign.

The recent numbers could be a positive indication that the Gulf nation has finally controlled the spread of the virus as it moves towards further easing of restrictions.

Earlier this month, authorities announced masks are now deemed non-mandatory outdoors except in specific locations. Souqs, malls, schools and workplaces are now operating at a 100% capacity, and Shisha is now permitted in certain areas.

Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health [MoPH] has also updated travel policies.

That included an update of the categorisation of countries in the Green and Red lists, removing the yellow list entirely and introducing a secondary Exceptional Red Countries list instead.

Per the new regulations, Qatar’s citizens and residents who are fully vaccinated and returning from green-listed countries are no longer required to take a PCR test before departing the country. However, they will be required to take the test within 36 hours of their arrival in Doha.

Vaccinated visitors travelling from green countries are not required to quarantine.

The MoPH also reduced the price of PCR tests from QAR 300 to QAR 160.

Qatar also updated the list of approved doses, adding Sinovac and Sputnik vaccines to its list, which already included Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson.