Doha: The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) have collaborated to publish a key study demonstrating the rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection among evacuees from Afghanistan, a major conflict zone.
The study has been published in JAMA Network Open, which is a part of the prestigious group of journals published by the American Medical Association.
Qatar has played a key role in helping evacuees from Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the coalition forces in 2021. Qatar provided the largest amount of logistic support to the evacuees, who transited through Qatar on their way to their final destination across the globe.
HMC provided medical support to over 60,000 evacuees during that time. Evacuees who entered Qatar were all tested for SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) according to the MoPH policies for arriving travelers. Since there are no data regarding the rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection among such populations, MoPH and HMC designed a study to determine the rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this population and ensure rapid identification of positive cases.
According to the lead author of the study, Professor Adeel Butt, Senior Consultant Infectious Diseases, HMC and Professor of Medicine and Professor of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medical College, HMC tested 7,834 evacuees between 20 August and 15 December, 2021 with 96.7 percent tested within 24 hours of arrival. Only 16 individuals (0.2 percent) had a positive or reactive test and were isolated according to the MoPH policies.
Dr. Salih Al Marri, Assistant Minister for Health Affairs, MoPH, who was also a part of this study, said: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, Qatar, under its wise leadership, adopted a strong evidence-based approach, based on solid scientific evidence, and tapping into a wealth of world-class experts working in various academic institutions in Qatar. This approach has been responsible for Qatar having one of the highest testing and vaccination rates, and lowest COVID-19 mortality rates in the world.”
