The comments on Thursday mark the first such public announcement of the emergence of the new coronavirus variant – also known as Eris – in Qatar.
Qatar’s health ministry on Thursday said it is monitoring the situation after recorded the first cases of the new Covid-19 variant, EG.5.
Authorities described the limited number of cases as basic and confirmed no hospitalisations have been made as of yet.
“The health situation in Qatar is stable and we are closely monitoring a number of events and the epidemiological conditions,” Director of the Health Protection and Communicable Disease Control Department at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Hamad Al-Rumaihi said in an interview on Qatar Television.
The comments on Thursday mark the first such public announcement of the emergence of the new coronavirus variant – also known as Eris – in Qatar.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new sub-variant as a variant of interest and called on governments around the world to closely monitor cases amid a rise in global numbers.
According to WHO, EG.5 is another off-shoot of the Omicron variant that was first recorded in February
Despite a steady increase in cases worldwide, WHO has downplayed concerns.
“Collectively, available evidence does not suggest that EG.5 has additional public health risks relative to the other currently circulating Omicron descendent lineages,” the WHO said in a risk evaluation in early August.
According to the WHO, EG.5 has reported in various countries around the world including China, the US, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the UK, France, Portugal and Spain.
The Covid-19 pandemic struck much of the world at the end of 2019 and forced global authorities to impose mass lockdowns for the most part of 2020. Since it was first detected, nearly 7 million people have died after contracting the virus.
In Qatar, 686 Covid-19 related deaths have been recorded.
However, with cases now on the decline, restrictions have been lifted around the world.
In June, Qatar officially ended all remaining Covid-19 restrictions, including mandatory mask-wearing.
The update meant customer service staff are no longer obligated to wear face masks during their work shifts, as is the case with individuals entering hospitals, medical centres, and other healthcare facilities.
That came after WHO in May declared that Covid-19 is no longer considered a global health emergency. While the coronavirus continues to spread and evolve, it is now deemed to be a global health threat at a lower level of concern, the WHO said at the time of the announcement.
