Qatar Coronavirus Updates -- Decreasing Cases, Light on the Horizon

Qatar is now reporting around 50-80 community cases a day, and it should trickle lower as the weeks go on. There are fewer than 100 people in hospital now, and 46 in ICU.

Vaccination has picked up again, with over 30,000 doses being administered every day. There still appears to be high demand, a young person I know called almost two weeks ago for an appointment and the earliest they could get was July 10, which while not great for them does demonstrate the demand.

Sadly I think it was the horrible second wave in India and Nepal which spurred demand from many that were initially hesitant to get vaccinated. Over half the population of Qatar is from South Asia and the tragedy: people dying in the streets, relatives pleading on social media for oxygen or hospital beds, hundreds of bodies in the Ganges, must have been heartbreaking for people from there. Couple that with Qatar only giving out Pfizer or Moderna -- the vaccine of choice for the rich & famous of South Asia, and demand for vaccination here would naturally increase.  

As of now 75% of people 16 and older have had one dose, and 64.5% have had both. If demand continues then in less than two weeks over 80% will have at least one dose. Even better, over 92% of people 40 and older have had at least one dose (84% have had both). Herd immunity is very close to being achieved, my guess is over 80% will have had two doses within 4-5 weeks.

Today I was in another neighbourhood, to collect a package from DHL, and it amazed me how much had changed in terms of the roads, shops, etc. and then I realized that because of COVID lockdowns it had been close to two years since I was last in the area. In fact it's been at least a year and a half since I had been in most of Doha: Katara, the Pearl, the Museums, it's weird to think how long life has not been 'normal'. Once the summer is over I might have to have a re-explore of Qatar.