50 percent occupancy in government offices from Sunday

Muscat: Starting from Sunday, government offices will function at only 50 percent employee capacity, with the rest of the staff working remotely, as part of the measures taken to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

These steps will be in effect until further notice, according to a statement released by the Supreme Committee to deal with COVID-19.

“Employees who do not attend their workplaces must perform the work assigned to them remotely, effective Sunday, April 4, 2021, until further notice,” said the statement.

Furthermore, as part of the latest raft of efforts taken, all students in private and international schools will need to attend school remotely. This is with the exception of grade 12 students, who will receive the same treatment as those attending government schools.

“The Supreme Committee has looked over the reports of epidemiological investigation in schools, which have shown an increase in the numbers of cases registered among the administrative and educational staff and students in private and international schools,” said the statement.

This is due to “transmission of the pandemic among community members, and the failure of some schools to take the necessary preventive measures, prominently, the failure to disclose COVID-19 symptoms, or incidents of coming in contact with positive cases,” it added.

Since April 1, all official and community-level sports activities have also been temporarily suspended until further notice. This includes the suspension of all activities on sports grounds, including artificial turf pitches, and the temporary stoppage of recreational activities in indoor sports facilities and gymnasiums.

A manager of a gym in Muscat confirmed the new regulations brought out by the Supreme Committee.

“We have a tennis court and a badminton court that is always fully booked because it is very popular, but we have closed it for the time being, and put up a notice informing people of the same,” he said. “Previously, only five people were allowed to work out in the gym at any one time, and they had to send us a message informing them of when they planned to come here.

“Now, we have cut that down to just two people at a time,” he added. “I hope these measures help bring down the numbers of COVID infections in the country, and I ask everyone to follow the rules so that we can leave the pandemic behind us faster.”