Muscat: A campaign for conducting Covid-19 tests for households and commercial establishments dealing in foodstuff in Muttrah received a huge public response, resulting in a large turnout on Sunday.
The campaign, initiated by the Ministry of Health, began at 9 am and catered to all expatriates and citizens living in Muttrah Wilayat, which is the focal point of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Special teams from MoH officials visited houses located in the narrow bylanes in the wilayat and spoke to people and instructed them to get themselves tested.
"Hundreds of houses situated inside the Muttrah wilayat are parts of clusters and in a cramped environment. Reaching out to them is a tough task but we have been successful," Issam Balushi and Moatasim al Balushi told the Observer.
At the same time, MoH officials also visited the shopkeepers and educated them on the importance of the Covid-19 tests.
"One of the issues we found among the foodstuff sellers is that they were not fully aware of the severity of the issue and some don't want to keep their shops closed and visit the Centre," said Khalid Zadjali, Mohammed Zadjali and other team members.
As a result of increased awareness campaigns, more local residents were seen at the centres by the afternoon on Sunday.
According to reports, hundreds of people, mostly expatriates from Asian countries, visited the four testing centres.
"We are expecting an increasing number of visitors on Monday as well as the campaigning is really seeing fruition," one center-in-charge told the Observer.
The MoH has strictly forbidden those who don't feel sick from visiting the Covid-19 testing centres.
"Only those with symptoms such as fever, sore throat, headache, cough and /or difficulty breathing can approach these medical Centre for a checkup," a source at the Ministry of Health said.
Additionally, all citizens and residents were urged to follow the precautionary measures such as washing hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub regularly as it can help kill viruses that may be on your hands.
Also, it is suggested to maintain a distance of one-meter between two individuals to prevent the spread.
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