INDEX QATAR 2-6,12 COMMENT 10 BUSINESS | Page 1 QATAR | Page 12 ARAB WORLD 7 BUSINESS 1-12 Qatar private INTERNATIONAL 7-9,11 SPORTS 1-8 Last Covid-19 sector bounces DOW JONES QE NYMEX patient back on lift ing discharged 28,148.64 9,956.66 39.36 of Covid-19 +465.83 +3.15 +2.31 from Lebsear +1.68% +0.03% +6.23% curbs: QFC Latest Figures Field Hospital published in QATAR since 1978 TUESDAY Vol. XXXXI No. 11693 October 6, 2020 Safar 19, 1442 AH GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals PM offers condolences to Amir of Kuwait HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani yesterday off ered condolences to the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, on the death of Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, praying to Allah to have mercy on the soul of the deceased and to rest it in peace in Paradise. The prime minister also off ered condolences to members of the ruling family and ranking off icials. Ministers and members of the off icial delegation accompanying the prime minister also off ered their condolences. Two held for violating PM meets Afghan president home quarantine rules Competent authorities arrested yesterday two people who violated All Qatar residents to the requirements of the home quarantine, which they committed to following, in accordance with the procedures of the health authorities in the country. The get Covid vaccine free two persons being referred to prosecution are: Albert Mondano Oshavillo and Nasser Ghaidan By Ayman Adly is not yet clear whether the upcoming Mohamed al-Hatheeth al-Qahtani. Staff Reporter vaccines would be permanent or need Authorities have called on citizens to repeated every year to maintain the and residents to fully adhere to the desired immunity,” he said. quarantine requirements set by the he Ministry of Public Health The MoPH has been reviewing the Ministry of Public Health. (MoPH) has decided to provide latest authenticated international Tthe Covid-19 vaccine free of scientifi c journals and periodicals re- S’hail 2020 exhibition charge to all Qatar residents, a top of- garding the experiments conducted to start on October 20 fi cial said yesterday. by the international drug companies Dr Abdullatif al-Khal, chair of the and universities separately or joint- The Cultural Village Foundation National Health Strategic Group on ly regarding the potential vaccines – Katara will kick off the fourth Covid-19 and head of Infectious Dis- against Covid-19. edition of the International Hunting eases at Hamad Medical Corporation, Dr al-Khal pointed out that based and Falcons Exhibition (S’hail was talking to Qatar TV. Dr Abdullatif al-Khal on the outcome of such researches 2020) on October 20. The 5-day Dr al-Khal had announced yes- and experiments, MoPH has con- exhibition provides the opportunity terday that the MoPH has signed an nerable categories of people such as tacted those with the most promising for 112 specialised international agreement with Pfi zer and BioNTech the elderly and those suff ering from and reliable outcomes and achieved companies from 13 countries to supply Qatar with their BNT162 chronic diseases,” Dr al-Khal stated. encouraging advanced clinical trials around the world to present the mRNA-based candidate vaccine “Over time, more and more quan- of their potential Covid-19 vaccines. best equipment and products to against Sars-CoV-2. tities of the vaccine would be avail- “During the past three months some the public. Alongside Qatar, the “According to the website of Pfi zer, able to provide for all as Qatar is set of these companies and institutes have participating countries include the vaccine would possibly be ap- to buy it from diff erent entities to be reached phase two and three of their Kuwait, Pakistan, US, Britain, HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin proved by the end of October or the able to make available locally suffi - trials, which are considered advanced Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Lebanon, Abdulaziz al-Thani met with President of Afghanistan Dr Mohamed Ashraf Ghani start of November this year after the cient quantities as soon as possible. levels in this regard. While the MoPH Portugal, Romania, France, and at his residence yesterday evening. The meeting reviewed bilateral relations and successful clinical trials. So, I expect “If things go well by the end of 2020 has already signed an agreement with Hungary. Page 4 ways of enhancing and promoting them in various fields, as well as the latest that the initial amounts of their vac- around 100mn portions of the vaccine Pfi zer and BioNTech to supply Qatar developments in Afghanistan in light of the Afghan peace negotiations hosted cine supplies to Qatar could be avail- would be produced globally to be in- with their vaccine as soon it is ready Covid not a worry; by Doha. The meeting was attended by a number of ministers and a number of able in the country during December creased to more than 1bn in 2021. and safe for use, we shall continue to Trump to check out members of the off icial delegation accompanying the Afghan president. Earlier 2020- January 2021 if things went “I recommend that everybody discuss with other major companies in upon his arrival at Doha International Airport on an off icial visit to Qatar, Dr Ghani well as planned,” he said yesterday. should take the Covid-19 vaccine, in- the fi eld to secure the best options and US President Donald Trump and the delegation accompanying him were welcomed by HE the Minister of “The fi rst quantities of the vaccine cluding those who recovered from the enough quantities when possible and announced he is leaving the hospital State for Foreign Aff airs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi and Afghan ambassador could be limited in quantity, so prior- disease because it is not yet clear if available,” the top offi cial and health- yesterday where he received Abdul Hakim Dalili. Page 2 ity would be given to the most vul- the acquired immunity would last. It care expert said. To Page 3 emergency treatment for Covid-19, telling Americans, who’ve seen nearly 210,000 people die from the virus this year, that they have nothing to worry about. Trump’s Twitter statement came hours after his own US fi rms keen on expanding Metrash2 enables ‘automatic’ chief spokeswoman tested positive for the virus. “I will be leaving the great Walter Reed Medical Center RP renewal of employees today at 6.30pm. Feeling really operations, workforce in Qatar good!” Trump tweeted. Page 8 By Shafeeq Alingal Staff Reporter Virus-hunting trio win By Peter Alagos a benefi t of expanding in Qatar and Nobel for medicine Business Reporter 80% of survey respondents expect to maintain or increase their workforce new initiative implemented by Two Americans and a Briton won in Qatar. Only one company indicated the Ministry of Interior (MoI) the 2020 Nobel Prize for Medicine merican companies have a that it might scale back its investment A allows companies to automati- yesterday for identifying the strong footprint in Qatar and in Qatar, citing a potential increase in cally renew the residency of employees hepatitis C virus, in work spanning Aare looking to maintain and investment costs,” the report stated. through the Metrash2 application. decades that has helped to limit expand operations and their work- Another key fi nding gleaned from This was highlighted during an online the spread of the fatal disease force, the US Chamber of Commerce the report showed that “there are awareness seminar on Metrash2 serv- Ft Lt Mohamed Khalid al-Tamimi and develop drugs to cure it. said in the second edition of its US signifi cant economic growth oppor- ices organised yesterday by the Gen- The discoveries by Harvey Alter, Business Outlook in Qatar Report. tunities in all sectors of the Qatari eral Directorate of Information Systems al-Tamimi, an offi cer from the Smart Charles Rice and Briton Michael The chamber recently released the economy.” (GDIS) at the ministry, in co-operation Devices Section at the Electronic Serv- Houghton mean there is now a report, “which is intended to serve as The survey participants cited a with the Public Relations Department. ices Department, GDIS. chance of eradicating the hepatitis a barometer of US business sentiment wide range of sectors in Qatar as hav- The virtual seminar was attended The offi cial said the number of ben- C virus - a goal the World Health in the State of Qatar,” according to US ing “large growth potential,” “indi- by a large number of representatives efi ciaries of the Metrash2 service has Organisation wants to achieve Chamber of Commerce senior vice cating that the overall economic op- from various companies and establish- reached about 2mn. in the next decade. The trio will president, Middle East, Turkey, Cen- portunities in Qatar are signifi cant.” ments. A presentation was made on the “The application off ers more than 220 share the 10 million Swedish crown tral Asia Aff airs Khush Choksy. US Chamber of Commerce senior According to the survey, the sectors benefi ts of Metrash2 services for citi- active services,” he continued. “Met- ($1.1mn) prize money. Page 8 “Our hope is that American and vice president for Middle East and that US companies viewed as “espe- zens, residents and companies. rash2 is available in six languages: Arabic, foreign companies, as well as thought Turkey Aff airs Khush Choksy. cially promising” are oil and gas, ICT, Named ZeroClick, the new auto- English, French, Malayalam, Urdu and ‘Covid could spread by leaders from governments, academia, fi nance, healthcare, infrastructure, matic residency renewal feature for Spanish.