Qatar's daily Covid-19 cases drop below 200

Phase 1 of lifting restrictions kicked off on May 28 while the vaccination drive continues to expand in the country.

Qatar’s daily reported Covid-19 cases have been drastically decreasing in recent weeks, with health officials assuring that the country is on the verge of ending its second wave.

In the last couple days, the ministry of public health has been reporting less than 200 total cases daily—marking a 70 percent dip since April of this year. On Saturday, authorities reported only 156 new cases— its lowest number since December 2020— 98 of which were community cases while the rest were returning travellers.

The following day, only 189 new cases were reported, with no fatalities, taking the total number of active cases down to 3,669.

The number of acute hospital admissions and those requiring ICU has also drastically decreased in recent weeks, lifting a huge pressure from the health sector across the country.

With fewer people now requiring hospital admissions for virus symptoms, Al Wakra and Ras Laffan Covid-19 hospitals discharged their last coronavirus patients and returned normal services last week.

Qatar heading towards end of second Covid-19 wave: officials

In the last couple of months, both facilities were designated as Covid-19 centres to help meet the demand for hospital admissions as the country struggled to contain the spread of the virus during the second wave. However, with the recent decline, the hospitals are no longer needed for Covid-19 patients.

The recent drop in numbers can also be attributed to the availability of more vaccines as well as the opening of more vaccination centres, which allowed the country to exponentially ramp up its national inoculation campaign.

“Discharging the last Covid-19 patients from Ras Laffan and Al Wakra Hospitals and recommencing normal services highlights how the combined efforts of the government restrictions, roll-out of the vaccination program and the community’s adherence to preventive measures have all helped to suppress this second wave,” said Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health, thanking all the hard-working and dedicated staff at both hospitals for working tirelessly to ensure the community’s safety.

So far, 62% of Qatar’s eligible population have taken at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and over 1 million people in Qatar are now fully vaccinated. According to statistics issued by the ministry of health, over 2,514,585 vaccine doses have been administered since the start of the vaccination campaign.

In early May, Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health [MoPH] and Ministry of Commerce & Industry introduced a four-phase plan for the gradual lifting of restrictions following a significant drop in daily Covid-19 infections among the community.

The new regulations include allowing five vaccinated individuals to gather indoors, 10 to gather outdoors, and the opening of salons and barbers at a 30% capacity only for vaccinated staff and customers.

Phase two of the lifting of restrictions is expected on June 18.

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