Qatar Coronavirus Updates - now over 300 cases

Looks like I spoke too soon about no new cases. Within an hour of the last post the Ministry of Public Health announced 58 more cases, taking the total to 320. This morning they announced another 17, so the current total is 337.

That might not seem like a lot compared to other nations but don't forget Qatar is a small country of 2.7m people. 337 cases would be the equivalent of 4,400 cases in Canada (they currently have ~200) or 40,700 in America (they currently have ~2,000). On a per capita basis Qatar now has about as many cases as South Korea, which is not good.

The Government reports that almost all of the new cases relate to the compound where 200+ cases were discovered weeks ago. I assume they have been quarantining people who were in contact with them and the positive tests are now appearing. If so then the workers would likely all be under 50 years of age so there is only a small chance of anyone dying from the virus. So far Qatar has reported no deaths. If it spreads to the Qatari community though it will most certainly kill a lot of elderly people.

For the most part people seem to be obeying recommendations for avoiding crowds and washing/sanitizing hands. I see a lot more people wearing masks or covering their mouths with things like scarves.

I was talking to a Qatari today who confirmed to me why Qatar has plenty of supplies in the shops. After the blockade the Government set minimum standards for shops to have back-up supplies of crucial items, and the Government even built storage facilities for grocery stores to store the inventory. In addition the blockade forced Qatar to ramp-up self-sufficiency so the country is now able to internally produce enough dairy products, eggs, drinking water and cleaning products/sanitizer to keep things going without significant disruption. It was a costly process to do this after the blockade happened but it's paying off now. Qatar might be in better standing than some Western nations right now in terms of having staple foods in the shops.

Let's hope Qatar got a handle on that outbreak in a compound, otherwise we'll see the number of cases continue to ramp up and stricter control measures taken.