Oman’s epidemiological situation improving significantly, Health Minister tells ambassadors

Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Saeedi, Minister of Health, held a meeting with ambassadors, heads of diplomatic missions and international agencies at the Diplomatic Club .

During the meeting, organised in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry, Dr. Ahmed briefed the gathering about the efforts made by the government to address the Covid-19 pandemic. He laid emphasis on the precautionary measures undertaken upon travelers’ arrival at Oman's border checkpoints, as mandated by the Supreme Committee tasked with tackling developments resulting from coronavirus (Covid-19) and preventing its spread.

In a statement to Oman News Agency (ONA) and Oman TV, Dr. Ahmed said that the Covid-19 Supreme Committee deemed it necessary to update ambassadors, heads of diplomatic missions, and international agencies about the epidemiological situation in the Sultanate which, he affirmed, is improving significantly.

The minister said he requested the envoys to convey the reality of the situation in the Sultanate to their respective countries so that the Sultanate’s name could be removed from lists of high-risk states.

Dr. Ahmed pointed out that a steady improvement in the Sultanate’s epidemiological situation is demonstrated by statistics and data released by the Health Ministry. “The Sultanate kept the pandemic under control, with positive cases declining sharply to 1% from an earlier average of 25%,” said Dr. Ahmed.

During the meeting, the minister added that the Sultanate endorses the principle of transparency when dealing with the number of infected cases. He urged all to ignore rumours and misleading information (disseminated by some media abroad) and to stick to established facts about the Sultanate’s efforts to curb the pandemic.

In advice to citizens and residents in Oman, Dr. Ahmed stressed the need to abide by precautionary measures. He said that vaccination is one way of controlling the virus. Other basic measures include wearing face masks and maintaining physical distance, he added.

Dr. Ahmed said that the vaccination campaign is progressing well. He thanked citizens and residents for taking vaccination seriously, noting that this approach protects people from complications and hospitalisation, if they happen to catch the disease.

The Minister told the press that the Ministry of Health will provide the Foreign Ministry with facts and figures about the epidemiological situation in Oman so that these could be conveyed to the embassies of countries that put Oman on the list of high-risk countries.

In his turn, Dr. Saif Salim Al-Abri, Director-General of Disease Surveillance and Control Department at the Ministry of Health, gave a presentation on the epidemiological curve since the outbreak of the pandemic. He also reviewed the National Campaign for Immunisation Against Covid-19.

Dr. Saif pointed out that the Sultanate conducted 25 million tests for Covid-19. He said that yesterday no infected case required admission to the Intensive Care Unit.

Speaking about the rates of vaccination, Dr. Saif said that 75% of target groups had received their first dose of vaccination while 42% of them had received two doses.

A number of ambassadors commended the Sultanate’s efforts in addressing the pandemic, notably the vaccination campaigns that the country has undertaken.

This is an unofficial English translation of the original Arabic text. To view
the official Arabic text click here.