Rate of COVID-19 infection in Qatar not high but realistic: Health minister

Tribune News NetworkDohaThe rate of coronavirus infection in Qatar is not high, but reflects the true picture of what is happening, the Ministry of Public Health HE Dr Hanan Mohammed al Kuwari said in an televised interview on Thursday.The number of cases in Qatar has gone up but that is only natural the minister told Al Jazeera, adding that it was the result of “very strong testing measures.”“We are testing a lot in Qatar. We are testing approximately 40,000 per million. That is one of the highest rates of testing in the world and reflects a true picture on what is happening in terms of infection rates,” she added. “The rates are not high. They are realistic.”The minister said 93 percent of identified COVID-19 cases in Qatar were mild, 5 percent are admitted in the hospital and only 1 percent end up in intensive care units.“That is actually a good weight to have in the country because we are very active in seeking the cases — tracing them (contacts of the infected people), isolating them, quarantining them and therefore managing the situation much better.”With around 19,000 positive COVID-19 cases and approximately 17,000 active cases, Qatar has the second highest number of confirmed cases in the Arab world. When these numbers are compared with the total population of the country, Qatar's COVID-19 infection rate has surpassed countries like Spain, Italy and Germany. So, should people be worried? “No, they shouldn’t be,” Dr Kuwari affirmed.When statistics are taken, small countries are at a disadvantage, she said, attributing Qatar’s relatively high number of cases per population when compared with that of large countries to increased testing in Qatar.Large countries are unable to carry out as many tests as Qatar does, the minister said. "So, per population it looks like we have more cases (than large countries) but that does not mean they have this many cases. It means they haven't reached not reached the level of testing per population (as Qatar does). You will see countries like Qatar, Luxemburg and Iceland have high number of cases per population but that is only because we are small and we test a lot,” she added.