Qatar has hit back against a "completely untrue" claim in a Washington Post story which estimated that 4000 workers are likely to die on World Cup 2022 building sites.

A strongly-worded statement from Qatar's Government Communication Office, on Tuesday claimed "enormous damage has been done to Qatar's image and reputation" by the article, "The Human Toll of FIFA's Corruption".

Doha said in the statement that no one has died on World Cup construction sites.

"An article in the Washington Post ... claimed that 4000 workers are likely to die while working on World Cup sites and that some 1200 had already lost their lives," read the statement.

"This is completely untrue. In fact, after almost five million work-hours on World Cup construction sites, not a single worker's life has been lost. Not one."