UK variant contributed to recent significant increase in COVID-19 cases in Qatar: MoPH
In recent weeks, Qatar has witnessed an escalation in the number of daily COVID-19 cases.
At a Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) press conference held on March 24, 2021, officials highlighted that the COVID-19 situation has become worse with the country currently experiencing the second wave.
There are over 500 new cases every day and the number is expected to go up in the next few days.
Despite Qatar’s efforts to block the entry of the new variants, like many other countries in the region and around the world, the country is now seeing many cases of the new UK variant.
In a post on its Twitter page yesterday, the Ministry explained the UK variant stating that it does not cause different symptoms in infected people, but it is highly transmissible and has the potential to increase the rate of the virus spread.
Similar to some 70 countries across the globe, Qatar is also seeing several cases of the new variant from the UK, the Ministry said.
What do you know about the new variants of Coronavirus (Covid-19)?
— وزارة الصحة العامة (@MOPHQatar) March 28, 2021
United Kingdom COVID-19 Variant#YourSafetyIsMySafety pic.twitter.com/zCFKXoeG8n
Clinical evidence now suggests that the UK variant can cause more severe illness, the Ministry underlined adding that this means that people infected with the UK variant are more likely to get very sick, or require hospitalization. They also have a greater chance of dying due to serious complications from the virus.
Similar to some 70 countries across the globe, Qatar is also seeing several cases of the new variant from the UK, the Ministry said.
Currently, Qatar uses two COVID-19 vaccines under its National COVID-19 Vaccination program. These are the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which are both shown to be effective at preventing severe symptoms due to the UK variant.
MoPH said that the most effective way to protect yourself and control the spread of the virus is to: 1-Take the COVID-19 vaccine. 2-Adhere to all the COVID-19 precautionary and protective measures.
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