Speaking at a joint press conference on Wednesday, Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Chair of the National Strategic Group on COVID-19, and Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Department of Medical Education at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in Doha, expressed concerns over the presence of new variants of COVID-19 in Qatar.  

While it is impossible to rule out the possibility of new variants circulating across Qatar, he emphasized that it was important to follow the precautionary measures now more than ever. 

He attributed the recent rise in the number of daily COVID-19 infections to people mixing in private places, and family events, violating social-distancing protocols. 

According to Dr. Al Khal, recently, there has been a spontaneous spike in daily hospital admissions, which indicates a possible second wave of the virus in Qatar. 

With the recent launch of the MoPH online system for vaccine registration, over 90,000 people have already raised their requests. Dr. Al Khal is positive on the vaccine’s efficacy in helping stop the spread of COVID-19. However, he emphasized that even after getting vaccinated, it was important to follow the preventive protocols to curb the spread of the virus. 

Though the size of the second wave is unclear, he urged people to continue adhering to the precautionary measures to curb the intensity of this wave. 

Dr. Al Khal advised people to be extra-careful, citing a definite increase in infections in the coming days, but he hopes that the application of some restrictions would be beneficial to everyone. 

Unlike the situation in the previous year when people and authorities were fidgeting over the rise in the cases during the first wave of the pandemic, this time, the nation would be prepared to fight the virus and not wait until the situation worsens. He added that measures are already in place to flatten the curve, to limit the spread of the virus and to reduce the number of infections. 

Dr. Al Khal assured that the educational process would continue uninterrupted. “The Qatar Government aims at preserving the educational process without exposing society to danger. The Ministry of Public Health in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education will closely monitor the situation in schools and take appropriate action, if necessary,” said Dr. Al Khal.

On the travel front, Dr Al Khal advised citizens and residents to postpone any current travel plans, unless absolutely necessary. It is preferable that travel takes place one week after taking the second dose of the vaccine. 

For his part, Brigadier-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Muftah, Director of the MoI’s Public Relations Department, expressed concerns over people violating the precautionary measures, citing a rise in the number of people violating the precautionary measures. He said that a total of 14,513 people have violated the COVID-19 protocols, which included over 10,000 in the past three months only.

He pointed out people’s reluctance to wear masks. In January, over 4,100 people were found violating the mask mandate, which indicated how some people were negligent and failed to adhere to precautionary measures. 

The requests for weddings would be soon made available via the Metrash app, added Brigadier General Al Muftah. The Information Systems Department will be focusing on processing wedding requests through the Metrash app. An official announcement would be made once the service becomes available in the app.

He added that more measures would be put in place through mobile, fixed or foot patrols, covering residential areas and commercial streets. 

For his part, Saleh Al Khulaifi, Assistant Undersecretary for Trade Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said that they were urging shops to focus on providing e-commerce services as much as possible, and supporting companies to drive this trend successfully.

He said that in the coming days, more measures would be introduced to reduce the capacity of shops, and restaurants would be urged to participate in the “Clean Qatar” programme in cooperation with the Qatar National Tourism Council.