Muscat: The Supreme Committee tasked with tackling developments resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic held a meeting on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Sayyid Hamoud Faisal al Busaidi, Minister of Interior, to follow up updates, measures of protection against the disease, and means of curbing its spread.
The Supreme Committee studied the epidemiological situation in the Sultanate and the rest of the world, as well as the outcome of local reports on polymerase chain reaction PCR tests required to be taken in advance by passengers coming to Oman due to the impacts of the global pandemic on public health in the Sultanate particularly amid confirmations that the mutated variants are linked to travel, thus the numbers of such infections have increased in the Sultanate causing adverse impacts on the health system and health workers.
To protect all individuals of society from more propagation of this disease, the Supreme Committee took the following decisions:
Expanding the ban on entry to the Sultanate to cover travelers from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh and passengers arriving from any other country if they passed by any of the three countries over the past 14 days. The three countries are thereby added to the list of countries from which travelers were earlier banned from entering Oman. The ban begins at 6 pm on Saturday, 24 April 2021, and continues till further notice. This is with the exception of arriving passengers who are Omani citizens, diplomats or health workers, and their families. The exempted groups will undergo the prescribed entry procedures when they reach the Sultanate’s land.
The committee also decided not to allow children below 12 years to enter commercial complexes and other trade outlets.
The committee instructs commercial complexes, commercial outlets, restaurants, and cafeterias to comply and limit the entry therein of customers to 50% of the outlets’ capacity. Legal action will be taken against any party that fails to abide by the decisions.
The Supreme Committee decided that the educational process will continue to be online for all classes in all government and private schools and all higher education institutions, except for Class 12 students and students required to be present for application parts of their specializations, such as students of colleges of medicine, health sciences or vocational training. The situation will be assessed in accordance with epidemiological developments.
The Supreme Committee advises all the parties concerned to seek the help of volunteers in all wilayats of the Sultanate to ensure adherence to the Supreme Committee’s decisions, particularly in commercial centers and complexes, trade outlets, souqs, or marketplaces, or cafeterias. The parties should coordinate with their respective Wali offices. --ONA
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
