After a number of days at 200+ cases per day things have started to slow down. The last three days saw around 150 cases a day, today was 136. If the trend continues things will settle down again. Unfortunately Qatar still has had 2,512 cases, which means around 897 cases per million people (US is at 1,437 per million, UK at 1,045 and Canada at 585).
To date only six people have died, which is good. However most of Qatar's cases are fairly new and patients tend to be in the hospital a long time. If the mortality data I've been seeing is correct then Qatar's generally young population would mean a mortality rate of, let's average it to 0.5-0.7%. At the current number of cases that would mean 12-18 deaths so I expect more unfortunate announcements by the Ministry in the coming week.
Qatar is not in a total lockdown yet though many people are expecting it will be coming. All non-essential businesses had to close for the weekend so only grocery stores, pharmacies, and restaurants (curbside delivery, no eating in) are operating. So it is almost a lockdown this weekend. There are a number of patrols on highways and through neighborhoods to ensure people are staying home and only doing essential travel.
Qatar has also cracked down on Qataris entering the country, now most (maybe all?) have to enter mandatory quarantine for two weeks -- none of this self-quarantine anymore, too many Qataris were ignoring it. Many of the cases are from people in quarantine.
Stay home everyone!
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