The Sultanate is expected to see a drop in Covid-19 cases in September after a rapid pace of national vaccination drive and new variants are of no high consequence, according to doctors and data analysts.
Ibrahim al Maimani, data expert, said new cases registered in the Sultanate will fall by 50 to 100 cases per day, with the immunisation rate increasing from 70 per cent to 90 per cent during the same month after analysing the statistical trend of coronavirus infections.
Al Maimani predicted that the total number of Covid-19 in-patients in hospitals will drop to 80, inpatients in intensive care units to 40, and that the number of those daily admissions to 5-15 cases based on statistical models.
Doctors in the Sultanate said coronavirus variants of interest like Mu and Lambda are of no high consequence compared to variants of concern like Delta.
Dr Zaid al Hinai, a pediatric consultant at Sultan Qaboos University, said Mu and Lambda strains are in decline in areas where the Delta, the most dominant strain, has spread.
He called on everyone not to get carried away by rumours and social media posts without scientific evidence that exaggerate the threat of new mutations of the coronavirus.
"Scientists believe that virus mutations are at its peak. The virus's ability to reproduce and breach vaccination protection is on the decline. Therefore, they do not expect to see a big change in future mutations of the virus," Dr Al Hinai said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health urges people to stick to precautions like masking, vaccination and social distancing to control the spread of virus as the Sultanate returned to normalcy last week with mandatory vaccination for entry into government and private establishments and lifting of the travel ban.
Last Thursday, there were 73 new cases with two deaths. The total number of cases registered in the Sultanate as of now reached 302,466, including 4,070 deaths. However, the total number of recoveries stood up to 292,181 taking the recovery rate to 96.6 per cent.
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