Residents and Citizens urged to stay at home as much as possible during Eid-Al-Fitr

Residents and Citizens urged to stay at home as much as possible during Eid-Al-Fitr

The State of Qatar has taken many precautionary measures to ensure the safety of Citizens and Residents and to limit the spread of novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

Summary of Key messages delivered by Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Chair of the National Strategic Group on COVID-19 and Head of the Infectious Diseases Division at HMC during the press conference, held by Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on May 21, 2020

• Throughout this month the number of new cases has gradually risen, and the State of Qatar is entering the peak stage of COVID-19.
• It is encouraging that the number of patients making full recovery from COVID-19 virus is also increasing each day and this week the total number of recovered cases passed 6,000.
• The number of daily recoveries is increasing in part due to new international guidelines on the time-frame for when patients are no longer contagious, meaning they can be safely discharged sooner.
• While the majority of patients with COVID-19 experience only mild symptoms, the State of Qatar is witnessing an increase in the number of patients with more severe symptoms.
• Throughout the past week, every day an average of 20 COVID-19 patients has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to serious complications.
• Eid is traditionally a time of the year when we socialize and celebrate with family and friends, but this year is going to be different.
• It is very important that citizens and expats stay at home and only go out when it is really required for a necessity and while doing so you should follow social and physical distancing measures.
• We are seeing many examples where the COVID-19 virus is rapidly spreading among the members of the same family, including examples where they do not share a household, due to families visiting each other and socializing during Ramadan.
• We all have a role to play in successfully overcoming this pandemic – we ask the public to work with the healthcare sector and play their part

Summary of Key messages delivered by Dr. Muna Al Maslamani (Communicable Disease Center Medical Director):

• Evidence from around the world shows that while anyone can become infected with COVID-19, people with chronic disease are more likely to develop severe symptoms if they get the virus.
• Data from Intensive Care Units at HMC shows that 49% of patients admitted to ICU with COVID-19 have one or more chronic health conditions.
• This is because chronic diseases can impair the immune system’s ability to fight off infection and leave the body more susceptible to severe symptoms.
• The symptoms and their severity differ from case to case for COVID-19 patients and indeed many patients are asymptomatic – meaning they display no symptoms at all.
• 94% of cases in the state of Qatar are mild or asymptomatic, 5% require hospitalization, and 1% are admitted in Intensive Care Units.
• We have been using plasma treatment for patients admitted to the Communicable Disease Center, with plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19.
• To date, more than 100 patients have received plasma from around 96 recovered donors and the team is seeing the number of donations from recovered patients rise each week.
• The most critically ill COVID-19 patients are currently being treated at the Intesive Care Units at Hazm Mebeireek General Hospital and severely ill COVID-19 patients often require mechanical ventilation. A small percentage – the most severely ill – will require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy.
• It is clear that COVID-19 affects people with chronic disease in a much more serious way than other people – and so it is extremely important for people with chronic disease to stay at home as much as possible and follow preventive measures to protect themselves from catching the virus.

Key messages of the Ministry of Public Health’s press conference on COVID-19#YourSafetyIsMySafety pic.twitter.com/VZ82labmF1

— وزارة الصحة العامة (@MOPHQatar) May 20, 2020

Source: MoPH Qatar

16000 will also continue to provide a 24/7 call centre service for all enquiries in relation to the COVID-19. 

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