Friday, June 18, 2021

Qatar Coronavirus Updates - Mandatory Testing Announced

Last post I mentioned a rumour that some offices were looking into mandatory weekly testing for unvaccinated staff. Looks like I was partly correct, it was not offices that were looking at doing it, it was the Government.

As part of moving to Phase 2 of lifting restrictions they announced:

"All employees in the public and private sector must carry out a rapid antigen test that is accredited by the Ministry of Public Health on a weekly basis. This applies to employees who did not receive or continue all the doses of their COVID-19 vaccines. Those who did take both doses, recovered from the disease, or those whose health condition does not allow based on a medical report accredited by MoPH, are exempt from taking the rapid antigen test."

And so this is required by all employers. Later that day was the announcement from our office about it. Other details:

-- the employee bears the cost for the test, and 

-- if they have to quarantine then it comes out of their annual leave, not sick leave.

Glad I got my second dose this week. Yes, I have recovered from COVID so technically do not need to do the test but still, nice to be fully vaccinated now.

Looks like the Government is getting serious about people who are hesitant to get vaccinated. I said it last post and I'll say it again, I expect in the future that they will not renew work permits for unvaccinated expats. Essentially there will be some kind of measure that unvaccinated expats will need to leave the country. You heard it here first.


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