DOHA – Qatar is in talks with Covid-19 vaccine makers to ensure all fans attending the 2022 World Cup in the country are immunised, said the foreign minister yesterday.
The Gulf nation is facing a resurgence in coronavirus cases and deaths despite progress in its mass vaccination programme, forcing authorities to impose a nationwide lockdown.
“We have been negotiating and talking to vaccination providers on how we can make sure that everyone attending the World Cup is vaccinated,” said Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
“Right now, there are programmes under development to provide vaccination to all attendees of the World Cup,” he told the Raisina Dialogue, a virtual event hosted by the Observer Research Foundation.
“We will be able, hopefully, to host a Covid-19-free event. We also hope that globally, the pandemic will start to go down and disappear.”
Worldwide, no one vaccine certification system has been universally accepted or recognised, though the International Air Transport Association Travel Pass has gained popularity among Gulf airlines including Qatar Airways.
As of yesterday, 194,930 of Qatar’s 2.75 million people have tested positive for Covid-19 since the pandemic began, with 21,965 cases currently active – almost 1% of the population.
Over 26,000 vaccine jabs were administered yesterday, bringing the total to 1,209,648 doses, according to official data.
One in five of the 367 deaths Qatar has suffered since the start of the outbreak was reported this month, with officials blaming the more virulent British variant.
Last week, Qatar announced the reimposition of strict lockdown measures, banning most indoor activities except retail and work in an effort to contain the disease.
The country has defied soaring case numbers to stage several global sporting events in recent months, serving as a test bed for different restrictions, but also suffering high-profile infections.
The wealthy Gulf nation has bucked the trend of more established sporting nations that have cancelled or postponed a slew of leading events, instead hosting football, tennis, motorcycling, judo and beach volleyball since January.
FIFA boss Gianni Infantino previously said measures to contain the virus will need to be taken during the 2022 tournament, but did not given details.
“Maybe, some precautionary measures have to be taken,” he told AFP during the FIFA Club World Cup in Doha in February.
As well as saying unspecified distancing measures may still be in place for next year’s World Cup, Infantino suggested that FIFA could “concretely” help travelling fans from countries with patchy vaccine roll-outs.
“We need to see how the situation looks by then. It’s very difficult to foresee now.
“It will take a little bit of time, and we have two years to come back to some sort of normality.” – AFP, April 17, 2021
