Qatar's Ministry of Interior (MOI) has reminded the public to follow the Cabinet's decision regarding wearing face masks when heading out in the public.

At its regular meeting earlier this week, the Cabinet decided to "compel all citizens and residents to wear masks upon leaving the house for any reason, except when a person is alone while driving a vehicle."

The decision, which went into effect Sunday, May 17, comes under the country's series of precautionary and preventive measures against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Failure to comply with this decision will result in the penalties stipulated in Decree Law No. (17) of 1990 regarding the prevention of infectious diseases. These include:

- the violator may face imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years and,

- a fine not exceeding QR (200,000) two hundred thousand, or

- one of these two penalties

MOI is running an extensive awareness campaign on this decision in several languages, including:

ENGLISH

ARABIC

HINDI

URDU

INDONESIAN

NEPALI

PASHTO

SINHALESE

TAMIL

BENGALI

MALAYALAM

TAGALOG

Meanwhile, health authorities in Qatar continue to implement the highest level of monitoring, detection, and management procedures to deal with the virus, the public has been advised to follow certain measures to safeguard their health.

For any queries, or concerns related to COVID-19 in Qatar, the public can contact a 24/7 hotline set up by the Ministry. The hotline number is 16000 and is toll-free.

Here's everything you need to know about the virus, including ways to protect yourself.

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