Fully-vaccinated people exempt from quarantine

QNA Doha People who are fully vaccinated with an approved vaccine have been exempted from quarantine requirement. Qatar announced a new travel policy to en...

QNADohaPeople who are fully vaccinated with an approved vaccine have been exempted from quarantine requirement. Qatar announced a new travel policy to ensure the continued facilitation of the entry process into the country through air, land and sea ports for travellers. The new travel policy will come into effect from July 12.A new package of precautionary measures will be applied to citizens, residents and visitors, which were developed with the aim of making the travel experience easy and safe while safeguarding public health and the measures previously taken to limit the spread of COVID-19.As per the new policy, passengers coming to Qatar from all ports will have to pre-register on the “Ehteraz” website (WWW.EHTERAZ.GOV.QA) and attach all the required documents before arriving in Qatar for a period of no less than 12 hours.Only fully vaccinated visitors who received any of the C0VID-19 vaccines recognised in Qatar with at least 14 days since the last dose, are allowed to enter Qatar, and they are not required to quarantine. GCC citizens who were diagnosed and recovered from COVID-19 in any GCC member state during the last 12 months and have then received a single dose of vaccine are exempted from quarantine 14 days after vaccination. Children below 11 years will follow the same entry regime as their parents. If the latter are vaccinated, the children will be considered as vaccinated. All travellers to Qatar are required to do a pre-travel COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours of arrival in Qatar at the country of origin in a medical centre that their local health authority approved to perform COVID-19 PCR tests. The PCR test result should be negative before they are allowed to board the airplane to Qatar or enter the state through the land border. They are required to install and activate Ehteraz app on their mobile phone using locally authorized SIM cards that can be obtained from one of the local providers (Ooredoo or Vodafone). They are required to register trough the Ehteraz website (www.ehteraz.gov.qa) at least 12 hours before travel, and upload the required official documents. They will be issued a Travel Authorization, which they will be required to present to the boarding staff to be allowed to fly to Qatar, or to the Immigration officials at the land border. Unvaccinated citizens and residents will be subject to five-day home quarantine and a repeat PCR test at a Primary Health Care Center on day 4 if arriving from a Green listed country.They are required a 7-day hotel quarantine and a repeat PCR test (on traveler’s expense) in the hotel on day 6, if arriving from a Yellow listed country. They need to undergo 10-day hotel quarantine and a repeat PCR on arrival in the hotel, and on day 9 (on traveler’s expense), if arriving from a Red listed country. Given that Qatar is one of the top ten countries in the world in terms of the percentage of the population who have completed their vaccination, and because of the success of the national vaccination campaign in the country, this step can be achieved smoothly.All travellers must familiarise themselves with the procedures that have been introduced upon entering the country, knowing that these procedures can be changed without prior notice.The Ministry of Public Health also urges citizens and residents traveling abroad during the summer to continue to be cautious while traveling and to continue applying precautionary measures, which include (wearing a mask, avoiding crowded places, and constantly sterilizing hands).