Qatar is now witnessing a third wave of COVID-19 cases fuelled by the Omicron variant, with daily cases now reaching more than a thousand, a health official said.
Speaking on Qatar TV, Head of Vaccination at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Dr Soha Al Bayat said that most of the cases are related to the new coronavirus variant. She added that a person infected with the previous variants of the virus could infect one or two persons. However, someone with Omicron could transmit the infection to three to six people.
Most of the new COVID-19 cases are related to the Omicron variant, which has been noted to be more transmissible in Qatar and other countries… According to the primary available information, Omicron is a fast spreader but the symptoms are mild or moderate without any serious complications.
According to the Ministry of Public Health, the number of cases recorded on Monday, 3 January, once again reached more than a thousand (1,177), the first time since 2020. It even went up in the succeeding days and yesterday, 2,273 tested positive, making the number of active cases rise up to 10,419.
The Ministry said it has anticipated a rise in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 especially during the winter season. However, it also added that a large majority of these cases will only have mild to moderate symptoms. Therefore, home isolation is advised.
Health officials are also been urging the public to take their booster shots. According to the MoPH, there is clear medical evidence that protective immunity from COVID-19 infection begins to decline six months after the second dose of an approved vaccine.
Al Bayat also affirmed that the rapid antigen test has proven to be 80% accurate and is available in all health centres. However, a PCR test is still recommended for confirmation.
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