Tuesday 07 / January / 2025
Muscat: A total of 38,389 people have entered institutional quarantine from the start of the year up to April 25, 2021.
Some 11,086 people are currently under institutional isolation across 609 shelter centres in the country, according to Hamoud bin Mohammed Al Mantheri, the coordinator of the Relief and Shelter Sector, which is one of the organisations overseeing quarantine procedures in the country.
To enable the government to stop the spread of COVID-19 in the country, he asked people currently under isolation to not break the quarantine rules they are expected to follow.
“Violations include non-compliance with isolation procedures, since some people move out of the quarantine centres, or remove their tracking band, in addition to intentionally breaking health and hygiene rules. Violators have been and will be dealt with, in keeping with the legal scope applicable to the Relief and Shelter sector, in coordination with Royal Oman Police and the relevant government authorities.”
Passengers who arrive in the country from overseas are also required to enter quarantine, although there are some exceptions to this arrangement.
“Once passengers leave the airport, they must immediately proceed to institutional quarantine centres, where there are devices that can capture the transmission from the tracking bracelets, and send data to the company charged with their supervision, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health,” he said, speaking to Oman News Agency.
In this context, Al Mantheri was also quick to dismiss rumours that had circulated online about 13 flights arriving in Oman before 6 pm on Saturday, April 24, after which entry for passengers from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh was banned.
“The flights arriving at Muscat International Airport were those already scheduled,” he explained. “The airport receives a maximum of 80 flights a day under normal conditions, including passenger planes and cargo aircraft, whether they are departing from Oman, or arriving in the country.
“All passengers arriving in the Sultanate are dealt with in accordance with the decisions of the Supreme Committee for dealing with COVID-19, which includes taking a PCR test prior to departure to Oman, a test at the airport, institutional quarantine, and another PCR test on the eighth day of their arrival in the country.”
