Qatar was a вЂњtop 10 voluntary donorвЂќ last year, WHO regional director Ahmed Al-Mandhari said. WHO officials on Monday praised Qatar and FIFA for their financial and practical contributions. Officials have since moved to a more flexible approach, which is expected to be tested one year ahead of the World Cup when Qatar hosts the 16-nation Arab Cup on Nov. Vaccine mandates for visiting fans to enter stadiums was the official Qatari policyВ four months ago. No details were given Monday of practical planning to protect the World Cup from COVID-19, and no questions were taken at the launch broadcast from Geneva. вЂњThe tournament is likely to be the first global mass gathering of this scale since the spread of the pandemic,вЂќ Hassan al-Thawadi, the head of the Qatari World Cup organizing committee, said at WHO headquarters. Though that issue was solved by moving the games to cooler November temperatures, the coronavirus pandemic is moving into a third year and closer to key tournament preparations. When FIFA picked Qatar in 2010 to host the World Cup, the expected health risk was exposing 32 teams of players, thousands of workers and hundreds of thousands of fans to 40-plus Celsius (100-plus Fahrenheit) heat in June and July. вЂњEvents like the World Cup and the Olympic Games are perfect partners for promoting health and solidarity,вЂќ WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. The move follows years of scrutiny on Qatar and criticism of conditions for hundreds of thousands of migrant workersВ needed for massive projects tied to the tournament. FIFA and Qatari organizers of next year's World Cup teamed up with the World Health Organization on Monday to use soccerвЂ™s marquee event for promoting public health.

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