Doha: Omicron cases in Qatar, detected among those who came back from travel, were in the quarantine stage, and none of them needed hospital admission, Dr Abdullatif Al Khal, Chair of the National Health Strategic Group on COVID-19 and Head of Infectious Diseases at Hamad Medical Corporation, said in a special interview during Hayatna programme on Qatar TV.
“Omicron is expected to become the dominant strain around the world, as we have seen in United States, where 3 out of 4 infections are omicron variant,” he said in the interview.
When questioned about the fear among some people about third dose, Dr Khal said that the fear is unjustified as booster dose has been administered to more than 215,000 people since September and no serious side effects were reported.
“We call on everyone to take the booster vaccine, and the side effects after this dose do not exceed the symptoms after the previous doses, so there is no need to be afraid,” he assured.
"We still need to give the booster dose to everyone who received both doses of the vaccine more than 6 months ago, and there are intensive efforts to be announced soon," Dr Khal said.
There are 5 important strains that have appeared since the start of the Corona virus, and the Omicron strain is characterized by more than 50 mutations in general and more than 30 mutations are present on the surface of the virus, and this increases its ability to 3 to 6 times to spread among people more than the Delta strain.
As per many studies, after 4 to 6 months of second dose, the immunity begins to reduce against the delta virus, and against omicron, the immunity is very less, he added saying preliminary studies have shown that existing vaccines are effective against the omicron strain.
He advised everyone, especially in coming days, to wear a mask and maintain social distance in closed places, as the mask is very effective in preventing the virus.
He also added that over 85% of the population of Qatar has been vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine against Covid-19.
More than 5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered since the start of the campaign a year ago in Qatar.
