Great NEWS! Qatar lifts more COVID-19 restrictions, eases mask mandatory, scraps PCR test!!

Qatar announced that a negative PCR test is no longer required from unvaccinated people to enter public areas from May 21, as part of new measures on easing COVID-19 curbs.

All public and private sector employees will no longer need to conduct a PCR test to enter their offices. The requirement to have a negative PCR test for unvaccinated or non-immune individuals to enter public facilities has been scrapped. Checking of vaccination or immune status will no longer be done while entering closed indoor public areas. A green Ehteraz status is still required to enter public indoor areas, though. The Ministry of Public Health said that wearing of face masks is no longer mandatory except for individuals working at healthcare facilities and for people on public transport. 

Also, customer service employees working indoors, including cashiers, receptionists and security personnel, are still required to wear masks. The ministry advised people to take personal responsibility to protect themselves and others by wearing face masks in indoor areas if they are vulnerable, have chronic conditions, have symptoms or are near people who seem to have symptoms and in crowded or poorly ventilated area. Event organisers are not required anymore to seek pre-approval from the Ministry of Public Health to hold events. 

The health ministry will work closely with Ministry of Interior to conduct random inspections of events and activities to assess the organisers’ adherence to the COVID-19 preventive measures. From May 22, the ministry will cease the daily publishing of COVID-19 data on social media and switch to a weekly summary that will be posted every Monday. 

The lifting of COVID-19 preventive measures comes in light of the continued low numbers of coronavirus cases in recent weeks, mainly due to high vaccination rates and community’s cooperation. 

This has contributed to the success in combating the pandemic and returning to normalcy.