DOHA: Dr Abdullatif Al Khal, Co-Chair of the National Pandemic Preparedness Committee and Head of Infectious Diseases at Hamad Medical Corporation, has said that since the beginning of the outbreak of the coronavirus in Qatar, there have been 328 cases that entered intensive care, among them 208 have recovered.
He also said in a joint press conference at Qatar TV along with Dr Ahmed Al Mohamed, Medical Director of Hazm Mebaireek that “we entered the peak phase a few days ago, and it is expected that the number of infected people will increase in the coming days before it stabilizes and then begins to decline.”
Speaking on the latest precautionary measures taken by Qatar to prevent the spread of the virus, he pointed out that: “53% of the patients in intensive care do not need ventilators”.
He said that the history of the spread of the disease among residents in Qatar was from March 8, 2020, which is about 59 days have passed since it spread inside Qatar.
The pandemic began to increase during the past three weeks and began to enter its peak in the past week. We expect that it may continue to rise before it stabilizes and then gradually decline again, he said.
Al Khal further said that during the past week the infections witnessed fluctuation, and some days witnessed an increase in the numbers, due to the large number of testing.
He also said that “most of the infected cases in the last week are from the age group between 29 to 34 years, followed by 35 to 44 years. Infected cases in the elderly are less and this is a good thing because complications are more dangerous for them. There is also infection among children, but it is mild and often without symptoms.”
Al Khal said that “About 1 percent of infected cases enter intensive care, and half of them require ventilators. Eight to ten infected people enter intensive care every day, most of them who have chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.”
There is a noticeable increase in recovery cases, where we have exceeded 2000 cases and the number is increasing and this indicator is very good, he added.
Al-Khal said that the “Remdesivir” drug is the first drug to be approved in principle and will used in urgent and severe cases. Qatar has contacted the company and it will be provided as soon as it is commercially available.
He also said that sanitary measures applied in the industrial area are continuing even with the gradual lifting of closure.
For his part, Dr. Dr Ahmed Al Mohamed, Medical Director of Hazm Mebaireek said that about 14 additional hospitals are allocated in case that the five hospitals for Covid-19 can’t accommodate all the infected cases.
He said that Hamad Medical Corporation hospitals are open to the public and provide all emergency services
The number of beds in Hamad Hospital has increased from 2250 pre-pandemic to 5000 beds during the pandemic and more than 40% of the beds are not used, he said.
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