Monday, June 15, 2020

Qatar Coronavirus Updates - Phase 1 of Lifting Restrictions


Just a quick note today. Phase 1 of removing coronavirus lockdown restrictions occurred today. Some mosques are open, as well as some parks, and some malls can open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays (not weekends though) with limits to capacity and the shops that can open. On social media I have seen some videos/pictures of people in the malls. Everyone is wearing masks of course, and you're not allowed in unless you show your Ehteraz app and that it is green.

I'd say shopping is a bit risky, the daily case rate has definitely come down in the last two days but is at more than a 1000 cases a day. That's a lot of cases. I am certainly not planning to go to a mall for a long time, likely August or September. Hopefully the case rate does not increase next week or the restrictions could be put back in place.

There are also questions around when expats can return from abroad without paying for two weeks of quarantine. So far that will be in place for sure until August 31st but that is still going to be an issue for people returning so their kids can start school. Also hotel capacity could be an issue. Typically hundreds of thousands of people leave during the summer, there are not enough hotels rooms for them all if they come back near the end of summer! Now not everyone will leave this year, I know of three families who decided to stay put instead of travel, and some countries have not opened their airports yet, but it could still mean tens (and tens!) of thousands leave instead of hundreds of thousands.

Not an issue that affects me at the moment but we'll see what happens with the quarantine restrictions closer to August.


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