Here’s a recap of Qatar’s big news stories for the week up to Friday 28th January. Brought to you in conjunction with Marhaba, the ultimate guide to Qatar.
Starting with last Sunday when the Qatar Tribune lead with the 31st Doha International Book Fair ending on a high note. The book fair featured 845 pavilions, with 437 publishing houses including 319 Arab, 45 foreign, and 73 children’s books publishing houses.
They also said that Qatar shivers as mercury plunges. Abu Samra recorded the lowest apparent temperature of -2.4 degrees Celsius.
And 1,638 people were referred to the Public Prosecution for flouting COVID norms on Saturday. 847 for not wearing a mask, 760 for not adhering to safe distancing, and 31 for not downloading the Ehteraz app. And that’s just in one day, so if you don’t want to be one of these numbers it’s probably best you start complying.
Onto Monday and Hamad Medical Corporation opens a lab to expand COVID-19 testing capacity. The new lab can process around 6,000 tests a day.
A timetable for establishing the GCC railways authority has been approved.
And daily COVID cases fall below 3,000.
Tuesday and Doha has been named the world’s second safest city in the world again.
The Ministry of Public Health reduces the isolation period for covered cases to seven days.
The Shura Council discussed the rise in the cost of living, price hike and inflation issues.
And the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour has set the maximum price for the recruitment of domestic workers from different countries.
On to Wednesday and the Lusail COVID-19 drive-through centre is to offer booster doses. Qatar provides 50,000 doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines. And the Ministry of Public Health says ‘Supports our efforts in the COVID-19 fight by receiving the booster dose’.
Yesterday now and the cabinet eases COVID curbs. Children and unvaccinated people can enter malls from Saturday. All employees in both the government and private sectors are to carry out their work at their place of work. And full attendance in schools from Sunday.
In this morning’s newspapers more countries on Red list as the Ministry of Public Health updates its travel lists. The Red List now contains 86 countries up from 57 on the previous list. And the exceptional Red List has reduced to six countries which are Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines down from ten on the previous list.
And finally Qatar among the world’s least corrupt countries. Qatar achieved 63 points on the Corruption Perceptions Index or CPI, which made it ranked second in the gulf and Arab countries, and 31st among the 180 countries and territories included in the index.
