Only about four persons in 10,000 in Qatar are likely to be reinfected with Covid-19 after recovering from the disease, according to a study conducted at Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar (WCM-Q), Qatar TV was told on Monday.

"So far only 54 persons in the country have been reinfected, with varied degrees of severity," explained Dr Laith Abu-Raddad, Professor of Healthcare Policy and Research at WCM-Q.

The antibodies and immunity gained by those who recover from Covid-19 should last at least four months, going by the study.

"The Covid-19 pandemic could continue globally until the end of the next year, but there are promising attempts to develop at least four new vaccines that could be available by the end of this year," he pointed out.

Dr Raddad also pointed out that according to the studies conducted on the infected cases in Qatar, there is no relation between the blood type and infection, its severity or contracting the disease again.

The dangers of this virus is mainly implied in how quickly and easily infection spread among people and it takes time to show symptoms while infection spreads.

Besides, when large numbers of people get infected at a time many of them need hospitalisation, which lays immense stress or any health system.

So, he urged people to continue to strictly abide by the precautionary and preventive measures as the virus is still around and infection is a valid possibility.

Dr Mohamed al-Khatib, head of Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine at Hazm Mebaireek General Hospital, told Qatar TV there are currently 40 infected cases receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Unit, down from around 207 cases in a single day during the peak of the epidemic in the country.

"Qatar has benefitted from the experiences of other countries and took immediate and practical measures to increase the number of ICU beds to reduce fatality.

"Accordingly, the number of beds at the hospital was increased from 16 to 226 and the whole hospital was assigned for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. In addition, the number of doctors, specialists and nursing staff was increased substantially to handle the increasing demand at the peak of the epidemic".


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