Friday 03 / January / 2025
Muscat: Members of the Supreme Committee are meeting the media to discuss the latest Covid-19 developments.
Excerpts from the press conference:
1- The Ministry of Health has registered 618 new coronavirus cases.
2- 185 patients are currently in Intensive Care Units across the Sultanate. 10 were admitted in the past 24 hours.
3- Five patients have succumbed to Covid-19 across Oman in the past 24 hours.
4- "For the first stage, we have reserved a little over 1 million doses of the vaccine. We do not know when it will arrive because that depends on approvals and the start of manufacturing," said Health Minister Dr. Ahmed Al Saidi.
5- On the topic of biometric attendance, Dr. Al Saidi said that fingerprint attendance at institutions had been reactivated.
6- "We witnessed a decrease in the spread of infection during the time of the night movement ban. The number of cases in the ICU also decreased as there was a reduction in the number of gatherings, which are already prohibited," the Health Minister said.
7- New academic year for schools in Oman to begin on Sunday says the Undersecretary to the Ministry of Education.
8- In public schools, students from grades 1 to 11 will undergo online studies while those in 12th grade will undergo blended learning. Kindergarten to be online classes only.
9- Undersecretary to the Ministry of Education: Private and international schools will apply the blended study method for attendance. Except for grade 12 students who will have to attend all classes.
10- Undersecretary to the Ministry of Education: If a guardian doesn't want his son to attend school, he must submit a request. For private schools, distance education will be used if the appropriate electronic system is in place.
11- Dr. Saif al-Abri, DG Disease Control and Surveillance, MoH: Those entering Oman must go into quarantine even if they test negative.
12- Dr. Saif al-Abri: A study between January to May on travellers showed that symptoms appear between the 2nd day and 7th day after infection. Some cases showed symptoms on 14th day, the day of their release from quarantine.
13- Ministry of Education: A laptop is not required for all educational platforms and they can be accessed through android and iOS phones as well. Except for two classes on computers for students between grades 5 and 9.
14- Undersecretary to Ministry of Education: "For first-grade students, the focus will be on four academic courses: Arabic, English, Mathematics and Islamic Culture."
15- Dr Saif al-Abri: "We hope that the death toll will decrease during the next week."
16- Undersecretary to Ministry of Education: Around 80 to 83 per cent of students will study online which equals to 400,000 students.
17- Dr Saif al-Abri: Cases in schools and universities are among teaching and administrative staff due to a result of contact. No foci (localised clusters) of the virus have been recorded in educational institutions.
18- Omar bin Abdullah Al Qatbi, TRA: We have coordinated with the Ministry of Social Development to obtain social security numbers of families. Telecommunications companies have submitted offers for providing devices and packages and these range between OMR 90 and OMR 500.
19- Undersecretary to the Ministry of Education: "Oman live channel will broadcast 12 lessons daily, and Amman Culture will broadcast Arabic language lessons for fourth-grade students and students from grades 9 to 11 will be able to view broadcasts of basic subject lessons on the Oman Cultural Channel."
20- Omar bin Abdullah Al Qatbi, TRA: More than 98 per cent of places in the Sultanate have network services.
