Okay, it has been an exciting last couple of weeks to say the least. Slowly but surely the Coronavirus has been making its way around the world and now there are cases all over the Middle East, mostly thanks to the outbreak in Iran.
People here are definitely concerned but not panicking. Coronavirus is the main topic of conversation wherever you go. Many people have canceled trips abroad, including my friends who canceled a weekend trip to Istanbul due to worries over Coronavirus -- and then though no cases have been reported yet in Turkey. There hasn't been panic-buying yet and the shops are still well-stocked with food and essentials.
Currently Qatar has seven cases (it was three but it changed as I was typing this) but it is not a concern; a few days ago the Qatar Government sent a special flight to Iran to pick up citizens stranded there and took them straight to quarantine. All seven cases are from that flight. So far there are no cases in Qatar from people independent of that flight.
It's not to say that Qatar is not testing for it, if someone goes to the hospital or clinic with symptoms they get checked for the virus. Luckily no other cases so far. The blockade is actually proving to be a help here, the only ways into the country are through the airport or by ship, and measures are in place at both places. Even goods offloaded from ships are left in storage for at least two days before being moved in. The Ministry of Health appears to be taking Coronavirus seriously and has been making preparations for an outbreak.
The rest of the Gulf is not so fortunate. Kuwait has over 50 cases, Bahrain nearly as many, UAE has over 20 and Saudi is recording its first cases now. Most of these were from people flying in from Iran or people in close contact with them, though in the UAE some cases were from China and Italy. Lots of travel restrictions are now in place, Saudi is cancelling most types of visit visas, Kuwait is not allowing many travellers in and advised its citizens not to travel. Bahrain has only one million people so 50 cases is a lot per capita (it would be the equivalent of United States having 15,000 cases) so they need to be extra-careful lest it turn into a major problem.
It's clear that some countries are either underreporting or do not have the ability to detect most of the cases. There is no way Iran has so few cases. Back when they were claiming they had 95 cases around 60 people flying to the Gulf from Iran were found to have the virus. Unless a symptom of the Coronavirus is a burning desire to buy plane tickets to the Gulf there is no chance that many people would have it if only 95 cases had been in the country. I read an article a few days ago where some Canadian researchers estimated Iran probably had 18,000 or so cases. Now it is probably more. I spoke with some Iranian friends who live in Qatar and they said people in Iran are really concerned and no believes the Government numbers. That Turkey is reporting none is also odd given it shares a border with Iran. Yes it closed the border a while ago but given it can take many days for symptoms to show there has to be some who crossed into Turkey (or flew there) beforehand. Egypt is also a big question mark, so few cases reported yet in other countries they are detecting cases in Egyptians. Many Gulf countries have banned travellers from Egypt or who have recently been in Egypt, I think they suspect it is a bigger problem in Egypt than the Government is letting on.
Anyway, I'm fine. Things in Qatar are still normal, no lock-downs or school closures. I have stocked up on essentials but hope things don't get worse here.
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