Manama : With COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the country spiking on a daily basis, Qatar has decided to suspend in-person classes at all kindergartens, schools and universities from Sunday onwards.
Educational institutions have been told to switch to distance learning instead of face-to-face classes while examinations will be conducted in person for students of all education levels, the education ministry said. Teachers and administrative staff will continue to show up at schools, the ministry added.
The shift was made in coordination with the Ministry of Public Health as part of precautions to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the Education Ministry said.
Qatar has tightened Covid restriction recently. Qatar suspended all non-urgent services starting from Friday as the country continues to report an increasing number of infections on a daily basis. The decision was made in light of the worsening pandemic situation.
The ministry of health said in a statement that the number of COVID-19 cases have risen continuously in the past few weeks, leading to significant numbers of people being admitted to hospital and intensive care every day with severe symptoms.
Qatar was witnessing a peak in the number of cases since the first wave, including a reportedly large number of infections among children under the age of 14.
Ahmed al-Mohammed, the acting chairman of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) Intensive Care Units, said on Monday that there was a jump in the number of infections over the past few months. The number of cases in the intensive care units in February was 53. Currently, there are more than 300 cases, he added.
He said in an interview with Qatar TV that there had not been so many cases of intensive care even during the peak of the epidemic last year.
Qatar has reported more than 1,80,804 positive cases, including 295 deaths so far.
Last week, Qatar reimposed coronavirus-related restrictions on education, leisure and business activities including closing gyms and restricting the capacity of restaurants, shopping malls and cinemas.
In addition to the closing of gyms, swimming pools, water parks, and spas will also be shut down until further notice.
Qatar in January recorded an 85-percent increase in the number of COVID-19 patients being admitted to hospital compared with the previous month.
In an effort to attract more people to the vaccination, the health ministry on Tuesday expanded the eligibility of coronavirus vaccine to anyone aged 40 and above regardless of their health conditions. The vaccine is provided free of charge to citizens and expats.
The authorities announced a 32-point plan last month to curb the surge in cases that raised fears of a new wave of infections.
