Wednesday 26 / June / 2024
Muscat: Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Sa’eedi, Minister of Health, said the epidemiological situation in the Sultanate was “alarming”. He referred to “a surge in COVID-19 infection cases that began in Mid-January this year and is still persisting”.
Prior to that, the health situation was comfortable and enabled health establishments to resume normal operation. “But now, with cases of infection and hospitalisation picking up, we are in for another spate,” said Dr. Ahmed.
Dr. Ahmed, member of the Supreme Committee tasked with tackling developments resulting from coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, said that the Sultanate has booked 200,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“Finance is not the only hurdle to the procurement of more medicine at a time when firms are scrambling to produce enough drugs to meet global demand,” added the minister as he addressed, the 23rd press conference at the Ministry of Education.
It was decided to add a category of a vaccination target group next week—people aged 60. He affirmed the first Immunisation campaign covered 95 percent of its target segments vaccinated against COVID-19—a total of 52,858 people. He explained that the ministries of health and education coordinate about schooling during the second semester in the Sultanate and that appropriate decisions will be taken during the next meeting of the Supreme Committee.
institutional isolation
Asked about prescribed home and institutional isolation, Dr. Ahmed said that steps are under way to absolve those vaccinated twice of prescribed quarantine. He warned that vaccination, despite protecting patients, is no guarantee that such patients would not transmit the virus, at least for the time being.
Dr. Saif Salim Al Abri, Director-General of Disease Control and Surveillance, unveiled the Health Ministry’s plan to immunise 60 percent of target groups of most vulnerable segments, including frontline workers. He noted that a decline has been observed in the age group of 55 years due to vaccinations.
Dr. Saif added, “a unified GCC health passport project has been envisaged to identify those who took COVID-19 vaccinations. The project will be discussed in a GCC meeting next week.”
However, institutional isolation is still compulsory for those who took the vaccines, as no exemption has been officiated so far, said Dr. Saif, who affirmed that 75 percent of the cases registered in January 2021 are linked to travel, but now such cases started to shrink by 20 percent to 40 percent.
