Health officials in Qatar have revealed that around 97% of teachers, workers and school staff have taken the Covid-19 vaccine.

Around 97% of teachers, workers and administrative staff at schools across Qatar have now been vaccinated against Covid-19, an education official said on Monday.

Speaking on Qatar TV, adviser to the Minister of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) Mohamed Ahmed al-Bishri also confirmed all schools in the country are being thoroughly sanitised to accommodate students for exams, while health inspectors and teams from the health ministry conduct daily monitoring visits to ensure compliance with Covid-19 protocols.

Al-Bishri also highlighted efforts that have been made to improve remote learning, including the provision of equipment and infrastructure for schools across Qatar, making remote learning more interactive for students and teachers alike.

School bus drivers are also being quarantined from other drivers and their temperature is checked every day before the start of shift. The same applies to bus attendants, and buses are sanitised daily.

In February, Qatar expanded its inoculation drive by turning the Qatar National Convention Centre into a vaccination clinic in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). Since then, at least two drive-thru vaccination centres were also opened to speed up the process.

The first priority group for the QNCC comprised of educators and staff at both private and government institutions, given their essential work during the ongoing pandemic.

Al-Bishri’s comments on Monday come just days ahead of the first phase of Covid-19 restriction lifting on May 28, when blended learning is expected to resume at 30% capacity.

Qatar has seen a steady drop in Covid-19 daily cases since restrictions were imposed in early April.

On Monday, health authorities recorded 299 new Covid-19 cases with 354 new recoveries from the virus. So far, 547 have died of the novel coronavirus in Qatar.

Source: Doha News