DUBAI (Reuters) – Qatar will allow private health facilities to resume providing non-urgent services on Thursday after a nearly month-long suspension imposed after a rise in coronavirus cases in the Gulf Arab state, the state news agency said.
It cited a cabinet statement on Wednesday allowing health centres to resume services at a maximum of 50% capacity.
Qatar reported 690 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking its total to 204,289 with 445 deaths. Daily cases had risen to nearly 1,000 in mid-April compared with less than 300 in January and with a peak of some 2,300 last May.
The ministry of public health said on Wednesday that 42.2% of those eligible in the country of some 2.7 million people have now received at least one dose of vaccine against COVID-19.
Qatar is providing the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.
(Reporting by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Kim Coghill)
