Qatar had highest Covid-19 recovery among Arab Countries

Qatar had the highest number of recovered cases of Covid-19 among the Arab countries in the first 12 months of the prevalence of the disease, according to a study released two months ago.“Qatar with a total recovery of 54,712 cases from February 2020 to February 2021, had the highest number of recovered cases per million population, followed by Lebanon, Kuwait, UAE, and Jordan with 42,849, 41,700, 38,239, and 33,943, respectively,” says the study ‘One-year Review of Covid-19 in the Arab World’ published in Qatar Medical Journal and featured on QScience.com. In what could be the first study about Covid-19 prevalence in the Arab countries, the authors of the study, Nasar Alwahaibi, Muna al-Maskari, Buthaina al-Dhahli, Halima al-Issaei and Samiya al-Jaaidi Shadia al-Bahlani from the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman highlights that the study included all the 22 Arab countries and was aimed to assess the 12-month prevalence of Covid-19 in Arab countries and to compare these findings with other significantly affected countries.The study also points out that Bahrain, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait, and the UAE had the highest reported number of confirmed Covid-19 cases per million population with 70,214, 58,289, 55,113, 44,282, and 39,165, respectively. Based on a 12-month evaluation from February 2020 to February 2021, the trend showed that the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in all Arab countries with 631,692 cases was recorded in November. In the same month, Jordan, Morocco, Iraq, Lebanon, and Tunisia scored their highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases.The total number of Covid-19 deaths in the Arab countries was 72,950, with predominance in Lebanon, followed by Tunisia, Jordan, Palestine, and Iraq.The study also shows that Bahrain had the highest number of confirmed Covid-19 cases and Lebanon had the highest number of deaths per million population. “The number of confirmed and death cases among Arab countries trigger significant worries about morbidity and mortality related to Covid-19, respectively. However, a younger Arab population in the world may contribute to fewer Covid-19 deaths in comparison with the topmost affected countries worldwide,” the study said.The report also points out that the first Arab country to have officially reported the presence of Covid-19 was UAE, with five cases on January 29, 2020. Egypt was the second Arab country and the first Arab-African country to declare the presence of Covid-19 on February 14, 2020. Comoros was the last of the Arab countries to declare the presence of Covid-19 on April 30, 2020.The data was collected from World Health Organisation, Worldometer, and from the websites of the Ministries of Health in all Arab countries. As of March 01, 2021, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in all Arab countries was 4,259,756. In comparison with the topmost affected countries, and based on both the highest number of confirmed and deaths per million population, Arab countries ranked second last before India, with 9,646 and 165 cases, respectively.