Qatar Economic Outlook Issue Number 13

Table (1) for Box (2-13): SARS-CoV-2 Variant Classifications and Definitions
Date of WHO announcement of 
variant
Country and date of 
discovery
Pengo 
Lineage
Label
Variant degree
18/12/2020
UK, Sep-2020
B.1.1.7 
Alpha 
WHO variants of 
concern
18/12/2020
South Africa, May-2020
B.1.351 
Beta 
11/01/2021
Brazil, Nov-2020
P.1, P1.1
,
P1.2 
Gamma 
11/05/2021
India, Oct - 2020
B.1.617.2 
Delta 
17/03/2021
Multiple countries, 
Dec-2020
B.1.525 
Eta 
WHO variants of 
Interest
24/03/2021
USA, Nov-2020
B.1.526 
Iota 
04/04/2020
India, Oct-2020
B.1.617.1 
Kappa 
14/06/2021
Peru, Dec-2020
C.37 
Lambda 
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
https://www.cdc.gov/
 

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Qatar Economic Outlook 2021 - 2023
 
110 
Unsurprisingly, this cavalier attitude led to the 
number of cases dramatically doubling by the 
end of January 2021, which prompted the 
government to launch an awareness 
campaign asking the population to adhere to 
the precautionary measures after a new 
variant of the virus appeared, as indicated in 
Box (2-13). 
Managing COVID-19 Crisis During 
Second Wave
In Qatar, the number of infections continued 
to pick up on a daily basis during February 
and March 2021, with a weekly average of 
3,286 cases, for a weekly maximum of 4,065 
cases and a minimum of 2,190 cases. This 
prompted the competent authorities to 
develop a plan to re-impose precautionary 
restrictions consisting of four levels: Level 1: 
restrictions on high-risk activity: Level2: for 
moderate to high-risk activities if the infection 
prevalence rate has not decreased; Level 3: 
further restrictions to be imposed if cases 
continue to rise; and Level 4: a complete 
lockdown shall be imposed, as in other 
countries. Based on this plan, the Cabinet 
issued a decision on 26 March 2021 for 
imposing 
Level-1 
procedures 
and 
restrictions, 
including 
reducing 
the 
percentage of employees present in the 
workplaces for both the public and private 
sectors from 100% to 80%. However, due to 
the increase in cases, a decision was issued 
on April 7th, 2021, with Level-2 and Level-3 
measures and restrictions imposed, as 
indicated in Table (2-6), including the 
reduction of employees present in their 
workplaces in public and private companies 
to 50%.
Of course, these measures led to the closure 
of many social and economic activities, but 
the restrictions were subject to periodical 
review. The most recent of those revisions 
was on September 29, 2021, when the 
Council of Ministers issued a decision 
absolving people of the need to wear masks 
in public places outdoors, followed by a 
decision issued on October 13th, 2021 by the 
Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), 
stipulating that 27 out of 28 health centers 
would be open to the public by prior 
registration with Hamad Medical Corporation, 
where the centers will work at full capacity to 
provide all services, including face-to-face 
consultations, as indicated in Table (2-6). 
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