Saturday 18 / May / 2024
Muscat: The test results of 200 suspected cases of the new strain of coronavirus will be known this week, an official from the Ministry of Health confirmed.
Dr Adel Al-Wahaibi, Director of the Epidemiological Surveillance Department at the Ministry of Health said in an interview with Oman TV, “There are 200 suspected cases of the new strain of coronavirus waiting for the results of the examination that will appear during this week, and the increasing number of COVID-19 infections is currently due to some laxity in adhering to health procedures.”
Al Wahaibi added, “Suspected cases of infection with the new strain have been isolated since the beginning of suspicion, just like earlier people infected with the virus. And the samples that are suspected of being of the new strain of the virus have been sent to the central laboratory for detection using genetic sequencing.”
In the recent period, the Sultanate has witnessed a steady increase in the number of new cases infected with COVID-19, however, Dr. Adel Al Wasabi confirmed that there is currently no increase in the number of coronavirus infections among the younger age groups.
He said, “The increase in the number of cases has become a concern during this period due to the steady increase in the number of new hospitalisations, and it can be said that within the next two days, we will sound the alarm of danger due to this increase.”
“The Sultanate, with its precautionary measures, was able to control the cases coming from abroad, according to the decisions taken by the Supreme Committee, and it contributed greatly to reducing the incoming cases from abroad, but the local infection remained so everyone must adhere to avoid the spread of infection,” he added.
Regarding the vaccination, the Ministry targets to vaccinate 20 per cent of the population in the first half of this year. Bader Al-Rawahi, a member of the task force specialised in providing anti-coronavirus vaccines, said in an interview with Oman TV,“By the middle of this year, we seek to cover 20 per cent of the population with vaccines that will arrive from several companies.”
“We are still in the first phase of the national campaign for immunisation against the coronavirus, which aims to cover 20 per cent of the population, and what has been done so far is equivalent to 4 per cent coverage of 27,441 people who have received the Pfizer-Bionic vaccine, and we target at this stage 50,000 people,” Al Rawahi added.
Al Rawahi stressed, “The turnout for vaccination is very high, as 99 per cent of the targeted people were covered in the first stage, and according to the results of the national survey of the extent of turnout, there is more than 75 per cent of the community ready to take vaccination against the virus. There are differences between the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, so a person must take both doses of the same vaccine.”
