Officials and health experts have warned that in recent days there has been a steady increase in the number of Coronavirus cases, in part due to people ignoring advice about social distancing and precautionary measures. Health Ministry Under-Secretary Dr. Waleed Al Manea revealed that numbers of new daily cases have increased from an average of 60 to around 200.
It was emphasized that citizens should take increasing care to work remotely where possible and avoid family gatherings, with indications that increasingly tough measures may need to be introduced and enforced if cases continue to rise. There is particular concern that traditional social gatherings around Ramadan and Eid would present ideal conditions for spreading the virus, if citizens fail to abide by advice to stay at home.
The total number of confirmed Coronavirus cases is 3,839; with ten deaths so far – two in the past week. An additional 2,220 individuals have now recovered from the virus. Meanwhile, there has been significant progress in rolling out measures to combat the virus:
- The rate of testing for Covid-19 has been tripled in the last week; from an average of 2,000 tests a day last week, to 6,000 tests over the past seven days.
- Continued investment in increasing emergency facilities has allowed for the rapid rise in available hospital beds to 4,000; with work in progress for the establishment of five new intensive care centres.
- The “Be Aware” app is increasingly proving its usefulness in identifying cases and enabling citizens to keep themselves safe. 227 cases have been identified through this app so far.