Qatar Coronavirus Update -- Over 28,000 Total Cases

Today was another record unfortunately, with 1,733 new cases in one day. Total cases is 28,272. No one has died in the last few days so the death toll is still at 14.

The virus must be spreading heavily in neighbourhoods and compounds with low-wage workers. The crowded conditions are ideal for spreading the virus. I can't see how else it would be spreading at such a rate as to infect over 1500 a day. The Government has now announced that as of Sunday wearing masks at all times is mandatory for everyone when they are outside their home (except when driving a car on your own)

Hospital space is still fine and the Government continues to open more facilities. Recently they opened up a 500 bed recovery unit for people who have been through the worst and want to recover in a facility instead of self-quarantining at home. The article gives some insight as to why it seems to take 4-5 weeks for a case to fully recover. In Qatar after a person has been deemed fit to leave the Covid-19 hospitals (there's four of them now) the person must still isolate for two more weeks, only after that they will be considered recovered if they no longer test positive for the virus. So if a person spends 2-3 weeks in hospital they still have 2 weeks of quarantine to go before being declared recovered.

At the moment Qatar has the highest per capita infection rate in the world (behind micronations San Marino and the Vatican) but one of the lowest death rates. I explained in earlier posts it is likely due to the demographics, the majority of the population in Qatar are expat workers in their 20s-40s so are less susceptible to complications from Covid-19. Interestingly I think this plays out when you look at the other nearby countries:



Qatar has 2.8m people and Qataris make up only 10-12% of the population so there are a limited number of elderly in the country. There are some expat elderly here but not a lot. 28,272 cases, 14 deaths.

UAE has 10m people and a similar local population, Emiratis are around 10% or so of the people in the country. But the UAE has a much more extensive property development market, especially in Dubai, so has a greater population of elderly people from other countries who live/retire there. 21,084 cases, 208 deaths

Kuwait is about 4.7m, doesn't attract expats with property developments but the population is about 30-40% Kuwaiti so there are also more elderly. 11,975 cases, 88 deaths

Bahrain's population is 1.4m and about 50% local but its death rate is lower than places like UAE and Kuwait. 6,069 cases, 10 deaths.

Saudi Arabia's population is larger than all of the others combined at ~30m and is about 65% local. 46,869 cases, 283 deaths.



My self-isolation continues, it's been over 50 days now, I think 56, and it's not going to end anytime soon.