DOHA — Qatar reported 616 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, as a study ranked it as one of the three highest risk countries for COVID-19 in the world.

The new cases were announced by Qatar's ministry of health on Twitter, alongside 1,897 new recoveries.

The total number of cases in the country is now nearly 100,000, with 99,799, of which 92,924 have recovered.

The death toll is 128, following five new deaths.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 risk level map developed by teams at Harvard’s Global Health Institute and Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics put Qatar as one of the three countries globally to be at the "red risk level."

Countries that report more than 25 cases for every 100,000 people a day are at the red risk level, the most severe stage of the outbreak. There are three countries in the red level category: Qatar, Bahrain, and French Guiana.

A complete lockdown is necessary at this stage to prevent the virus from spreading further, according to the experts. — Agencies