Qatar Coronavirus Updates -- Phase 3 of Lifting Restrictions

 As scheduled the Government announced further loosening of restrictions. Basically an increase to capacity in places like restaurants, barbershops and other businesses. Small steps but not a significant change. 

They did add a new green/yellow/red list of countries in terms of travel. If you go to countries on the red list you are likely to have to quarantine whether you're vaccinated or not. Qatar has detected the delta variant in quarantined travelers but I believe so far it is not in the community (alpha and beta are though, I suspect I was infected with alpha). Yesterday there were only 55 community cases of Covid, one of the lowest figures I've seen this year. Vaccination is continuing at a brisk pace, with 25-35 thousand doses being given out each day. 77.6% of people 16 and older have had at least one dose now (and 65.4% have had two), which means Qatar will reach 75% having both doses in about three weeks. I wish they provided data for 12-16 range but I can figure out the total population vaccinated as they gave the total numbers:  1,839,827 have had at least one dose and 1,529,336 have had both. That corresponds to roughly 71% of the total population have one dose and 59% have had both. 75% of the total population being vaccinated should occur within 5-6 weeks.

Deaths are still occurring, maybe 6-10 a week, but the number in hospitals is slowly decreasing. Bahrain is also over its third wave thankfully and while rates are still higher than Qatar they are no where near as bad as before. Oman is still having difficulties, as is Kuwait.

If things go as planned almost all restrictions (except for incoming travelers) will be removed by the Government in three weeks.

Qatar Coronavirus Updates -- Decreasing Cases, Light on the Horizon

Qatar is now reporting around 50-80 community cases a day, and it should trickle lower as the weeks go on. There are fewer than 100 people in hospital now, and 46 in ICU.

Vaccination has picked up again, with over 30,000 doses being administered every day. There still appears to be high demand, a young person I know called almost two weeks ago for an appointment and the earliest they could get was July 10, which while not great for them does demonstrate the demand.

Sadly I think it was the horrible second wave in India and Nepal which spurred demand from many that were initially hesitant to get vaccinated. Over half the population of Qatar is from South Asia and the tragedy: people dying in the streets, relatives pleading on social media for oxygen or hospital beds, hundreds of bodies in the Ganges, must have been heartbreaking for people from there. Couple that with Qatar only giving out Pfizer or Moderna -- the vaccine of choice for the rich & famous of South Asia, and demand for vaccination here would naturally increase.  

As of now 75% of people 16 and older have had one dose, and 64.5% have had both. If demand continues then in less than two weeks over 80% will have at least one dose. Even better, over 92% of people 40 and older have had at least one dose (84% have had both). Herd immunity is very close to being achieved, my guess is over 80% will have had two doses within 4-5 weeks.

Today I was in another neighbourhood, to collect a package from DHL, and it amazed me how much had changed in terms of the roads, shops, etc. and then I realized that because of COVID lockdowns it had been close to two years since I was last in the area. In fact it's been at least a year and a half since I had been in most of Doha: Katara, the Pearl, the Museums, it's weird to think how long life has not been 'normal'. Once the summer is over I might have to have a re-explore of Qatar.