(MENAFN- The Peninsula) marivie alabanza |
The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: On May 5, 2023, the World health Organization (WHO) announced that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is no longer a global health emergency.
The announcement comes more than three years after the UN health agency issued the virus's highest level of warning. The WHO first declared COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern on January 30, 2020.
As of May 17, 2023, WHO statistics show that more than 766 million confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported since the outbreak began, including almost 7 million reported deaths.
At the time of writing this report, Qatar has registered 510,596 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 690 deaths, according to the WHO data.
Qatar has been recognized among the leading countries in the world in a number of key COVID-19 indicators. Recently, the Minister of Public Health HE Dr Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari highlighted Qatar's successful national response to the COVID-19 pandemic over the last three years, saying "Qatar has one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates in the world thanks to highly effective medical care provided to patients."
HE Al Kuwari also said that Qatar is amongst the countries with the highest vaccination rates in the world. The latest WHO figures show Qatar has administered a total of 7,609,178 vaccine doses.
Today, May 18, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on its Instagram and Twitter handles released videos of five top health officials in the country, as they discussed Qatar's successful proactive strategy in addressing COVID-19 and overcoming three waves of the pandemic. The officials also recognized and praised the healthcare workforce and the public for contributing to Qatar's successful approach to COVID-19.
Emergency phase over; Covid now endemic
Dr Abdullatif Al Khal, Chairman of the National Health Strategic Group on COVID-19 and Head of Infectious Diseases at the HMC, explained that the success of Qatar's COVID-19 strategy was due to many factors, including the whole government approach and the science-led approach.
According to Dr Al Khal, thousands of healthcare staff from across Qatar's health sector have been working tirelessly for more than three years to combat the virus and protect the population from its threat.
"Thanks to the efforts of these dedicated healthcare professionals and the support of the community, Qatar has been able to overcome the pandemic and be formally recognized as one of the leading countries in the world in a number of key COVID-19 indicators."
He added: "Qatar has one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates in the world, thanks to highly effective medical care provided to patients with COVID-19 and to one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. The success of Qatar's COVID-19 response was due to many factors, including the whole of the government approach and the science-led approach."
According to Dr Al Khal, despite the country's success to date and the end of the COVID emergency phase, the virus has not gone away. He said COVID-19 is now endemic, which means it will have a constant presence in Qatar and around the world for the foreseeable future.
"It, therefore, remains important, especially for people 60 and over and those with chronic medical conditions to receive the updated bivalent COVID-19 booster and to seek any treatment if they get infected with COVID," added Dr Al Khal.
Community support is critical to success
Medical Director of Hamad General Hospital, Dr Yousef Al Maslamani, said that the community role had been crucial in containing the pandemic. He praised the members of the community for their support and contribution to the success of Qatar's COVID-19 strategy.
"At the start of 2020, Qatar like the rest of the world was faced with an unprecedented global health crisis due to the rapid spread of COVID-19. Over the past three years, COVID-19 has affected every member of Qatar's population in some way. But thanks to the joint efforts of many government sectors, working hand-in-hand with the community, Qatar has delivered a successful COVID-19 strategy to curb the spread of the virus."
Dr Al Maslamani said that since the start of the pandemic, the community has demonstrated great compliance with the COVID restrictions and the standard infection control measures, such as hand washing, avoiding gatherings, and isolating when sick. He further said that the community's positive attitude towards the COVID vaccination program has helped Qatar in stopping the spread of the virus and quickly returning to normal life.
Hospitals were never overwhelmed
Sheikh Dr Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, Director of the Public Health Department at the MoPH said the health sector worked with partners across government to deliver the comprehensive COVID-19 strategy and worked hand in hand with the community, whose support was central to its success.
"The success of Qatar's COVID-19 strategy has been achieved, thanks to the talent and commitment of Qatar's incredible doctors, nurses, and the whole healthcare workforce. It is also a testament to the high quality of the nation's healthcare system and to the growth and the expansion of the health sector in recent years."
He explained that despite the large number of COVID cases, Qatar's health system was never overwhelmed, saying "our commitment to ensure everyone who needed hospital admission was able to do so without delay. It was a factor in enabling Qatar to have one of the lowest COVID mortality rates in the world."
"The Ministry of Public Health teams have led the delivery of many COVID-19 measures, including surveillance and monitoring of COVID cases, track entries of positive and suspected cases, the development of restrictions, plans, and public awareness and community engagement campaigns," he said.
PHCC's vital role in protecting people
Dr Samya Al Abdulla, Senior Consultant of Family Medicine & Executive Director of Operations at Primary Health Care Corporation, has highlighted the important role of PHCC teams in the delivery of Qatar's COVID-19 strategy.
According to Dr Al Abdulla, since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the dedicated healthcare team at the PHCC has been at the forefront of Qatar's healthcare strategy.
"Our team has played a crucial role in various aspects of COVID-19 response. In addition to a dedicated COVID health center and primary care, all our health centers served as the main testing location so we established a testing clinic within each facility and also we introduced multiple drive-thru services."
She added that the PHCC health care team lead the planning and operation of the Lusail drive-thru COVID-19 testing center, which provided vital additional capacity during the challenging Omicron wave, ensuring that the community testing needs were met.
"Our healthcare team was also instrumental in Qatar's successful vaccination program. We provided accessible vaccines service at all health centers and also effectively, we managed the Qatar National Convention Center as a vaccination center," she stated.
"Together, we have faced challenges. Our healthcare heroes have shown resilience, dedication, and compassion in their tireless effort to combat this pandemic. As we move forward, let us not forget the invaluable lesson we have learned from this experience. Together, we can build a healthier, more resilient future for our community."
Expanded acute bed capacity, intensive care capacity
Dr Ahmed Al Mohammed, Chairman of the Corporate Department of Medicine and Acting Chair of Critical Care at HMC, explained how expanding hospital capacity played a vital role in the health sector's COVID-19 strategy.
"Since the start of the pandemic, we have worked hard as a healthcare system to ensure every part of the system delivers at its best. We made healthcare services easily accessible to all and expanded our acute bed capacity and intensive care capacity so that every patient requiring life-saving treatment was able to do so quite quickly."
Dr Al Mohammed said that Qatar's ability to effectively treat patients with the most severe symptoms in highly advanced intensive care units is a key factor in Qatar's COVID-19 mortality rate, which is one of the lowest in the world.
The healthcare teams at HMC, he said, had worked quickly to more than double the existing ICU capacity of over 700 beds across the hospital system.
"At Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital, for example, the main COVID-19 hospital, we increased the ICU capacity from just 8 beds to a maximum of 226 beds, so the expansion of our hospital bed capacity is a testament to the hard work, skills, and expertise of Qatar's healthcare workforce," he said.