One dose of Covid vaccine must for renewal of Resident Card

As part of its plan to ramp up vaccination, the Supreme Committee tasked with tackling developments resulting from coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, said that an expat must take at least one dose of vaccine approved by the Sultanate to renew residency permits. For attending work, government employees should be vaccinated.

“Renewal of residency permits for expats in Oman will be conditional on obtaining at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccines approved for use in Oman’’, said Dr Saif bin Salem al Abri, Director-General of Disease Control at the Ministry of Health, at the press conference of Supreme Committee last week.

The Sultanate has also booked additional doses of vaccines to cover children. The ministry said the Sultanate has booked a total of 8,597,740 doses of Covid-19 vaccines, of which 3,536,171 have so far been administered.

The Royal Oman Police (ROP) will extend visas issued at the beginning of the year until the end of this year regardless of the visa type, and no additional fee will be charged for this extension, said Maj Gen Abdullah bin Ali al Harthy, Assistant Inspector General of Police and Customs for Operations, during the press conference.

“Any employer who has workers abroad can contact them, access the visa portal, and get the visas which have been extended for additional periods,” he said, confirming that ROP will resume issuing visas from September 1.

Touching on air travel, Dr Al Abri said, “Many countries have adopted QR code, and the World Tourism Organisation has introduced a link for countries to check the tests and certificates verified through the QR. Yet, some countries detected forgery in the tests and certificates.”

Dr Al Abri said the public sector will have 100 per cent attendance from September 1, however, entry will be limited to the vaccinated employees only.

“There is an ongoing study to reopen cultural and social activities, and a decision will be issued by the Supreme Committee.”

The health minister said that the Sultanate seeks to obtain 500,000 doses of Sinovac, noting that vaccines provide 85-95 per cent protection against the acuteness of the disease and cuts down the number of hospitalised people and deaths as a result of the disease.

However, vaccination does not provide total protection from exposure to the virus, transfer or transmission of the virus, he added.