The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), through its medical teams in Hamad International Airport (HIA), is conducting random Covid-19 tests on a small sample of travellers arriving into Qatar.
This is part of Qatar's comprehensive measures to protect the health and safety of travellers and the community, the MoPH tweeted yesterday.
Any traveller may be included to take part in the random testing, it was explained. The random sampling is in addition to the mandatory pre-travel PCR test requirement.
The procedure for the random testing at HIA is as follows, according to a MoPH infograph:
"If you are selected to be part of the random sample, you will be notified by the medical teams once inside the terminal. Medical teams will then ask you to take a PCR test. This test is free of charge and should only take a few minutes.
"You will then be free to continue your passage into Qatar and your Ehteraz status will remain green while the PCR test result is processed. You will be notified by SMS of the PCR test result within 24 hours.
Travellers testing positive on PCR test will be notified about the required actions they must take.
"Thank you for your cooperation and understanding as we continue to take all necessary measures to protect travelers and the community from Covid-19.
"If you have any questions, please ask your flight crew," the MoPH infograph added.
In the last week of May, Qatar lifted many of the restrictions implemented earlier with a view to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
The gradual lifting of the curbs is planned in four phases, the first of which began on May 28. Phase 2 is planned to begin on June 18, Phase 3 on July 9 and Phase 4 on July 30.
Operating public transport and Doha Metro services on weekends, allowing dine-in at restaurants and reopening driving schools, barbershops, gyms, swimming pools, museums and libraries etc, subject to conditions, are among the highlights of Phase 1.
With the acceleration of the pace of vaccination programme against the Covid-19, Qatar continues to fight the virus by implementing the largest vaccination campaign in its history for citizens and residents of the country, free of charge.
Qatar ranks among the top ten countries in the world, compared to its population, and it is also among the countries that have the lowest death rates in the world due to the quality and excellence of the health care system in the country.
Vaccination against the virus is provided in Qatar through 35 centers, and some drive-through vaccination centers in specific areas, which cater for people receiving their second dose only.
Qatar was one of the first countries to launch a national vaccination programme, as the vaccination campaign against the virus was launched in December 2020, after the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) approved the Pfizer-Biontech and Moderna vaccines for emergency use.
Based on the belief that vaccinations remain the most effective way to deal with the virus, on May 17, the Ministry of Public Health launched a campaign to vaccinate children between the ages of 12 and 15 with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.