Qatar to ease COVID-19 lockdown restrictions from July 1 as cases drop

With second-highest tally of COVID-19 infections in the Gulf Arab states, Qatar reportedly aims to further ease the lockdown curbs from July 1. Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Crisis Management on June 28 announced that restaurants, beaches and parks would reopen from Wednesday, but with limited capacity. The statement comes as the authorise believe that the country has passed the peak and the rate was subsiding. 

While addressing the daily news briefing, the officials announced that Qatar recorded 750 new cases on Sunday, taking its total of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 94,413. The deadly virus has also claimed nearly 110 lives in the region. Even with the virus spreading across the country, the Crisis Management committee reportedly announced that public and private gathering of a maximum of five people will be allowed and employees in the public and private sector, on the other hand, can work from the office at 50 per cent capacity. 

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Preventive measures to curb virus spread 

In a bid to contain the spread of the deadly infection, the Qatar government has been taking the drastic step. Last month, the country also announced that people found without wearing the protective face masks will be charged with fine and jail time. Just like other Gulf states, Qatar has also been seeing the disease spread among low-income migrant workers living in crowded quarters. 

However, the authorities have refrained from imposing a curfew. Although, Qatar launched an app called 'Ehteraz' for tracking Covid-19 and urged people running factories to ensure that the workers install the application.

To revive the hard-hit economy, earlier this month, the country also allowed outbound flights and the re-opening of some mosques. As per reports, the authorities are also set to enter the third phase of relaxation, which is scheduled from August 1. In the next phase, the country will be permitting flights from low-risk nations to resume and further re-open shopping malls and markets.

(Image: @OstoulSB/Twitter)

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