Qatar has changed entry and transit requirements today (July 12, 2021), allowing travel to the country (more of that on a separate piece).
There is, however, a line on the released text that will undoubtedly cause a significant headache for transit passengers that now would require a negative PCR-RT test not administered more than 72 hours of arrival to Doha.
You can access Qatar’s page for entry requirements here.
Here’s what the state of Qatar says on its website:
All passengers traveling through the State of Qatar (Transit) must present a (PCR) test certificate before travelling, valid for 72 hours from arrival, and if another PCR test is needed for their next destination, the test can be conducted at Hamad International Airport for a fixed charge of Qrs. 300 per test.
Conclusion
This would be a crazy change, as many countries with negative PCR-RT test requirements in place, even for transit passengers, have removed them.
Many countries now accept complete vaccination as proof, or you can conduct a cheap and fast antigen test for arrival purposes instead of a PCR-RT one that Qatar refers in their text required for TRANSIT.
Suppose Qatar requires a PCR-RT test even from transit passengers. In that case, it makes flying on the airline, which had continued to fly throughout the pandemic, providing much-needed connectivity when others grounded their fleets for weeks or months, very challenging.
Could this be just an oversight or translation error from Arabic?
