Ongoing vigil against Covid-19 must continue
Qatar has made an exceptional achievement by maintaining one of the lowest Covid-19 death rates in the world, besides registering a fall in the number of hospital admissions and a decrease in the number of cases reported daily.
Under the directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, all ministries, health and academic institutions and other organisations in our country participated in the collective efforts to fight the pandemic.
Qatar has started lifting the pandemic-related restrictions gradually and with great caution, in order to control the spread of the virus while keeping precautionary measures in place.
This, as Sheikh Dr Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, Director, Department of Public Health at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), emphasised recently, requires everyone’s commitment to precautionary measures so that we can continue to control Covid-19 and return to normal life in the coming months.
The pandemic has presented a unique set of challenges for all of us. We are still learning more and more about coronavirus every single day, but public health experts continue to warn that you don’t actually have to be exhibiting symptoms to spread the new coronavirus.
A person infected with the virus can be contagious as early as three days before he or she begins showing symptoms. In addition, some people never develop symptoms, but are still able to spread the virus. This means that, even if you “feel fine,” you can still inadvertently spread the virus if you’re infected and don’t yet know it — further emphasising the need for everyone to practice social distancing.
The Covid-19 pandemic has placed a new level of personal accountability on each one of us. To slow the spread of coronavirus and protect the health and vitality of our people, we must remain committed to the extra precautions our public health officials are recommending.
At the core of these preventive measures is the need for continued social distancing and take all of the precautions seriously— even if one is healthy.
Qatar has already announced a comprehensive master plan to ease restrictions through four stages (from June 15 to the fourth and final stage on September 1) while taking all the necessary precautions required.
HE the Spokesperson of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management, Lolwah bint Rashid AlKhater, has made it clear that the implementation of the plan is entrusted not only with the Ministry of Public Health or the government and private sectors, but also with all members of the society - young and old, men and women.
Hence, it is our collective responsibility to support and actively participate in efforts to fight the pandemic, heed the advice of our health experts, and help bring the situation under control.
We should not throw caution to the winds and ignore both how this virus spreads and how contagious it is.
At the end of the day, the new coronavirus is still around us — and it is the responsibility of each one of us to protect ourselves and the society from Covid-19, which is severe enough to affect someone’s life forever!
The pandemic has placed a new level of personal accountability on each one of us