Top Oman health official reveals latest updates on Covid-19

Business Monday 06/July/2020 22:05 PM
By: Times News Service
Top Oman health official reveals latest updates on Covid-19

Muscat: There is no truth to what has been circulated on social media about the weakness of the COVID-19, His Excellency Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for Health Affairs and members of the Supreme Committee said.

His Excellency Dr. Mohammad bin Saif Al Hosni, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for Health Affairs and member of the Supreme Committee, revealed to Oman TV, the latest developments on the escalation of infections and deaths of COVID-19 in the Sultanate said, ”Any respiratory symptoms, whether it is runny, coughing or dry throat are coronavirus unless proven otherwise.”

His Excellency confirmed, “Currently 465 patients are in hospitals due to COVID-19, 129 of them are in intensive care. Today, there are 13 patients in intensive care at Sohar Hospital, and there are 11 patients in intensive care in other governorates hospitals.”
“The number of registered cases doubled within 3 weeks, from 25,000 to 47,000. Over the past 3 weeks, 104 people, more than half of them Omanis, have died,” he said.

His Excellency pointed out, “Hospitals are already overwhelmed with patients, and they need intensive care, not to mention intensive care. Sleeping in the intensive care room is not as easy as some believe, but it is great suffering in terms of isolation and exposure to many devices and others.”

His Excellency also added, “6% of the number of positive infected people need to sleep at the hospitals, and from that percentage, 20% of them will need to sleep in intensive care rooms, according to our experience in the Sultanate.”

“The absorptive capacity in the intensive care unit was increased, as the number of Royal Hospital’s care beds increased from 14 beds to 28 then 48 beds. And there is a plan to increase them to 100 beds. If the number of infected people increases, we do not know the ceiling of the number of beds we will need, so we must reduce the number of infections,” he said.

His Excellency added, ”There are unacceptable behaviours that led to an increase in the number of infected cases. There are wrong behaviours from which youth and family gatherings occur, and some gather inside cars.”
He pointed out that, ”The epidemiological curve escalated, especially in the South Al Batinah and North Al Batinah governorates.

“Maintaining physical distance and observance of instructions is the only way to avoid getting infected with the virus,” he added. His Excellency concluded, ”Coronavirus knocks on every door, and we can block our doors. If we want to eradicate this epidemic, with our own hands, just as some peoples have managed to overcome it.”