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Tribune News Network
Doha
Qatar’s fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) appears to be in the right direction as the country maintains a fatality rate of zero despite having 537 positive cases, Director of Public Health Sheikh Dr Mohammed al Thani said in Doha on Monday.
This is a positive indicator, he told Qatar TV in an interview.
Although a few of the infected individuals had to be admitted to the intensive care unit, some of them have been discharged, Dr Thani said, cautioning that a few were still in the ICUs.
Several countries are trying to find a cure or a vaccine for the disease and some of their researches have yielded positive results, he said, asserting that Qatar was keen to make any medicine that has proven its efficacy against the virus available in the country.
“A vaccine would be developed in the end, but that might take time,” he said, anticipating the arrival of a vaccine “in October at best”.
Perhaps, a new drug might be here before October or we might discover later that high temperature would play a big role in reducing the spread of the disease, he said.
As of now, the best way to deal with the virus is to slow its transmission, Dr Thani said.
“The longer we delay the spread of this disease, the better it is,” he added.
“If everyone in Qatar shows a commitment, we will be able to easily overcome the crisis,” asserted the director, expressing hope that that public would take the government instructions seriously and abide by them.
Awareness is very important, he said. Even if some of the measures now are eventually removed, people should be careful not to catch the virus as happened in certain countries where public health recommendations were underestimated, he said.
Dr Thani said more than 95 percent of the people in Qatar seem to complying with the instruction, but 5 percent remain.
Controlling the outbreak of coronavirus in Qatar depends on the commitment of the citizens and the residents in complying with the instructions of the government and the health workers, the doctor said.
Doha
Qatar’s fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) appears to be in the right direction as the country maintains a fatality rate of zero despite having 537 positive cases, Director of Public Health Sheikh Dr Mohammed al Thani said in Doha on Monday.
This is a positive indicator, he told Qatar TV in an interview.
Although a few of the infected individuals had to be admitted to the intensive care unit, some of them have been discharged, Dr Thani said, cautioning that a few were still in the ICUs.
Several countries are trying to find a cure or a vaccine for the disease and some of their researches have yielded positive results, he said, asserting that Qatar was keen to make any medicine that has proven its efficacy against the virus available in the country.
“A vaccine would be developed in the end, but that might take time,” he said, anticipating the arrival of a vaccine “in October at best”.
Perhaps, a new drug might be here before October or we might discover later that high temperature would play a big role in reducing the spread of the disease, he said.
As of now, the best way to deal with the virus is to slow its transmission, Dr Thani said.
“The longer we delay the spread of this disease, the better it is,” he added.
“If everyone in Qatar shows a commitment, we will be able to easily overcome the crisis,” asserted the director, expressing hope that that public would take the government instructions seriously and abide by them.
Awareness is very important, he said. Even if some of the measures now are eventually removed, people should be careful not to catch the virus as happened in certain countries where public health recommendations were underestimated, he said.
Dr Thani said more than 95 percent of the people in Qatar seem to complying with the instruction, but 5 percent remain.
Controlling the outbreak of coronavirus in Qatar depends on the commitment of the citizens and the residents in complying with the instructions of the government and the health workers, the doctor said.
