Friday, April 03, 2020

Qatar Coronavirus Update - A Breakdown of the Cases in Qatar

The number of cases increased by 126 today, for a total of 1075 cases. Thankfully no one died today, and 21 more people recovered.

The Government recently released further information about all the cases. They noted that most of this 'second wave' was due to Qataris returning from abroad and not adhering to the self-quarantine, thus infecting their families and others.

The breakdown of cases does seem to tie in with what I expected -- most of the people who catch the virus are reasonably young due to the large expat workforce here. 56% of the cases are people under the age of 45, 18% are 45-55, 10% are 55-64, and only 3% are over the age of 65. This is why despite over 1000 cases only 37 people are in intensive care. It is also likely the main reason why the number of deaths is so low, so far only three have died: two in their late 50s and one in their 80s. All apparently had preexisting medical conditions.

If this trend continues Qatar is in good shape in terms of having adequate medical facilities available. Only 3.7% of cases are currently in ICU so to overrun Qatar's current capabilities there would need to be, I'm guessing, around 15,000+ active cases in the country. As long as people keep 'flattening the curve' that won't happen. And don't forget Qatar will also have over 18,000 hospital beds ready in the next few weeks on top of at least four hospitals dedicated to Coronavirus patients.

Stay home everyone if you can.

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