Qatar has witnessed a stabilization of the COVID-19 outbreak for several weeks and there has been no second wave of the virus, Her Excellency the Minister of Public Health Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari said.

وزير الصحة العامة تؤكد أن دولة قطر تشهد حالة استقرار في تفشي فيروس كورونا /كوفيد - 19/ منذ عدة أسابيع، ولم تواجه موجة ثانية للفيروس، منبهة إلى أن ذلك لا يعني "أننا في أمان تام من خطر الموجة الثانية". @MOPHQatar #قطر pic.twitter.com/bsSZkWHk3i

— Covid19Qatar (@covid19qatar) January 23, 2021

H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari opened the Qatar Health 2021 Virtual Conference last week. With more than 5,000 registered attendees, Qatar Health 2021 Pandemic Mitigation: Best Practice for Disaster Medicine, Mass Gatherings and Trauma Systems was a collaborative effort between Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Opening the online event, H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari told attendees through the conference’s innovative virtual platform that Qatar Health 2021 was an opportunity to come together and reflect on the important lessons from the past 12 months and ensure Qatar’s health system is ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

During her opening address, H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari told delegates that under the direction of His Highness the Amir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and His Excellency the Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani the health sector have worked with partners across government to deliver a comprehensive strategy to protect Qatar’s population from the threat of COVID-19.

“Qatar has faced a large epidemic of COVID-19 which reached its peak on May 20. Despite a large number of cases, our health system, including hospitals and ICUs was never overwhelmed and the number of deaths remained at very low levels with a case fatality rate of 0.14%, one of the lowest in the world.

We are now witnessing a stabilization of the disease which has been going on for several weeks: we have not seen a second wave, but a number of small outbreaks, mostly associated with family, social gatherings, or shared accommodation. These were controlled through intense active surveillance and contact tracing. However, this does not mean we are free from the risk of a second wave,” she said.

“At the start of the pandemic, our government took very seriously into account the warnings of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the experience of countries such as China and Italy which were first heavily hit by the new disease. We used this “window of opportunity” that WHO mentioned several times and which Dr. Michael Ryan, our keynote speaker (at Qatar Health 2021) repeatedly emphasized.”

H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari told the attendees that from the outset it was clear that Qatar’s national response had to be carefully coordinated across government and marked by timeliness, clear lines of authority, and the integration of efforts.

“Very early in the course of this pandemic, we worked on the rapid expansion of our acute and ICU beds knowing that 14 percent of COVID patients would require admission to hospital and five percent would need intensive care.

In a record time, we opened isolation facility, acute care beds, ICU beds, transformed a general hospital into an ICU hospital, secured ventilators, protective gear, laboratory testing, redeployed hundreds of clinical staff and volunteers, and established tracing and tracking capacity,” added H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari.

“A key factor for the successful implementation of all these measures is the structure of our health system that is based on universal health coverage,” H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari said.

H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari said the gigantic effort to confront COVID-19 could not have been done without the support of the people of Qatar.

She said 2021 and beyond presented new challenges that required the same focus, innovation, and dedication.

“Our primary COVID-19 focus during the year ahead will be to roll out our mass vaccination strategy and to continue to support the global vaccination drive through our support to WHO.”

“The experience we learnt by hosting many sports and other mass gathering events in 2020 during the pandemic has put us in a strong position to host safely the numerous events in 2021 that are a precursor to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,” H.E. Dr. Al Kuwari said.

“Qatar, in collaboration with its local and international partners, is in a wonderful position to set a new standard in hosting safe and healthy mass gathering events. I invite you to learn, share and put in practice what you learn over the next few days,” she concluded.

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Source: MoPH

Cover Image Credit: The Peninsula