Doha, August 31 (QNA) - Chair of the National Strategic Group on COVID-19 and head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Hamad Medical Corporation Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal confirmed the success of the State of Qatar in dealing with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic mainly and limiting its spread, and that this success is due to the measures and decisions taken by the state in this regard in addition to the cooperation of community members.

In the joint press conference between the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education on Monday evening about the COVID-19 developments, Al Khal said that the State of Qatar has witnessed a significant decrease in the number of infections since the beginning of June, as infection rates stabilized at the end of July, then witnessed an increase in the number of infections in the first half of August, then the numbers began to decrease in the past few days.

Dr. Al Khal reviewed the daily infection rates for Aug. 1 to 29, pointing out that the indications show a slight decrease over the past two weeks despite the increase in the number of daily tests conducted by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), and attributed most of the infections to the spread of the virus within the family members through social gatherings or family visits.

He explained that the MOPH conducts periodic checks on workers in commercial complexes, restaurants, and the health sector, in addition to conducting community surveys daily as part of the efforts made to limit the spread of the virus in society, in addition to conducting checks on all people with symptoms of respiratory infection as well as contacts of people infected with the virus.

Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal noted the positive rate of the field swab tests in August showed infection rate ranges between 1 to 2 for every hundred swabs performed, which is a low rate.

Chair of the National Strategic Group on COVID-19 confirmed that the State of Qatar is one of the highest countries in the world in the number of tests to the number of the population, as the ratio has reached from two to four examinations per 1,000 people per day, which is one of the high rates. He underlined that the MOPH will continue to maintain these high rates of examinations, especially after entering the fourth stage of the opening plan and the start of the new school year.

Dr. Al Khal stressed that the State of Qatar has succeeded in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic despite going through the various stages of the reopening plan, thanks to the measures taken by the state and the large resources that it has allocated for that and also thanks to the cooperation of citizens and residents from community members, as combating the virus is the individual and national responsibility of every person.

He indicated that the majority of newly diagnosed cases were infected through gatherings and family visits, adding that the disease will not end in the world, so it is important to continue the daily life while taking the necessary precautions. He explained that these precautions have proven effective in limiting the spread of the virus, indicating that the State of Qatar is working and striving to provide vaccination for all members of society as soon as it is available in the global markets. He added that the ministry will intensify its efforts during the coming days and weeks after the start of the fourth stage of the opening plan and the start of the new school year.

For this purpose, and in the interest of the safety of students, their families, teachers, and workers in the public and private education sector, the MOPH conducted pre-emptive tests for all school workers to detect any COVID-19 infections, and the results of the tests showed that 98.5 percent of teachers and school personnel are free from COVID-19 infection, adding that these results are promising and reassuring.

He added that the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with the MOPH, developed a plan to safely reopen schools, and this plan includes implementing preventive measures in schools and inside the same classroom, requiring everyone to wear masks, maintaining a safe distance, not mixing classes, disinfecting classrooms frequently, disinfecting surfaces, reducing the number of students in buses, to half, and inspect all workers before starting the study, as well as conducting training workshops for health and safety officials and school administrators.

The head of the Infectious Diseases Department at HMC pointed out that the MOPH has identified other preventive measures to limit the spread of the virus in schools, including preventive measures that require a quick reaction in examining contacts of any infection among students or between teachers and school workers, adding that the ministry intends to conduct random checks in schools over the coming days and weeks.

He cautioned on the need to implement the preventive measures required by the school and not to send students to the school if they have any disease symptoms or if there is an infected person in the family, stressing the need to adhere to the application of precautionary measures, not to mix with students in other classes, report any infection case, and to oblige all students, teachers, and employees apply preventive measures.

In response to a question about the mechanisms for evaluating the success of each phase, especially the fourth phase, and whether there is a possibility to postpone the implementation of the second part, Dr. Al Khal explained that the success of the various phases is evaluated through following up the nine indicators adopted by the Ministry of Public Health, including the percentage of positive checks in daily surveys, the number of daily infections, the number of cases that require hospitalization and intensive care, and the virus proliferation index, which are important indicators that the Ministry of Public Health collects information about, and then makes decisions regarding whether or not to continue lifting the ban.

He stated that in the event that indicators show that there is an increase in the spread of the virus, the Ministry of Public Health will consult with the government regarding the return or re-application of some other measures.

For his part, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim Al Nuaimi affirmed the States keenness on the safe return to schools, wishing that the new academic year would be distinguished and successful for all.

Al Nuaimi stressed the importance of adhering to the precautionary measures in schools and among the academic and administrative staff, workers and students.

He explained that there are more than 380 thousand students and 30 thousand academic and administrative employees and workers in the educational institutions who will participate in the new academic year, noting that the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has completed its preparations to receive the students in schools.

He added that five new schools with 145 classrooms opened this year, brining the total number of schools to 283, in addition to the Technical School for Girls and a parallel program for adult education.

On the expansion of higher education, Dr. Al Nuaimi noted the opening of Lusail University, which offers programs needed by the labor market in the State of Qatar, as well as a branch of the English University of Liverpool, stressing that this expansion of educational and academic institutions and the states plans and programs were achieved despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

He indicated that the educational institutions will receive only 30% of the students, and that the students will be distributed over the days of the week. The absence will not be counted until September 17, taking into account the concerns of parents. He stressed the importance of commitment to distance learning so that full benefit is achieved, noting that distance learning is not much different from classrooms.

He underlined the importance of the parents in the educational process and in overcoming these circumstances, and stressed the need to deliver the children to the school in personal cars and not to send the student to the school in the event of a high temperature, in addition to educating the children in the best ways to deal and communicate with others and apply the precautionary measures, and follow up the children during the study and communicate with the teachers.

He noted the measures taken by schools in preparation for receiving students, including sterilizing buses and schools continuously, adopting social distancing between students in classes, preventing different classes from mixing with each other, measuring temperature for students, teachers and workers, obligating everyone to wear masks, allocating places to isolate any case of injury, and fully coordinating with the Ministry Public health in this regard.

Regarding the continuation of the blended learning in the educational institutions in the future, Dr. Al Nuaimi emphasized that the ministry was keen before the pandemic to develop education and use modern technology in it, but the coronavirus accelerated this new experience, stressing at the same time that the ministry continues with blended learning as one of the ways of future education while developing it continuously and in different ways to multiply the benefit from it. He noted the continuing qualification and training of teachers while providing educational programs for students to deliver the idea of the lesson and achieve the desired goals of the educational process. (QNA)