Yesterday Qatar recorded 250 cases of the virus, the highest daily total yet. Until today, when 279 new cases appeared!
Qatar now has 1,604 cases of coronavirus, a caseload of 573 per million people. By contrast (data is from the John Hopkins dashboard):
USA: 991 per million
Canada: 408
UK: 714
Spain: 2,783
Italy: 2,138
South Korea: 198
Also sadly another person died, an 88-year-old Qatari man. This brings the total dead to four.
Some of the increase in cases is due to Qatar getting larger testing capability. Now they are processing 3,500 to 4,000 tests a day, which is fantastic, and even further expansion is planned. On a per capita basis it's comparable to many Western countries (1,300 to 1,480 tests per million people per day).
Still it is a bit frightening, it looks like Qatar is now entering a period where a huge number of cases are going to appear and possibly swamp the health system. As many of the cases are due to Qataris returning from abroad and not quarantining themselves the virus is likely spreading through the Qatari population. Less than 20 people recovered today so things won't get better until the number of recoveries is greater than new cases.
I'm fine, I have been home for over two weeks now. I was planning to do a grocery top-up next weekend but now I highly doubt I will. I'm definitely staying home until this 'wave' passes.
No comments:
Post a Comment