No new COVID-19 cases registered in past 5 days

MUSCAT, MARCH 2 - Out of the six registered and confirmed cases of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Sultanate, two have recovered completely. Speaking to the media, Dr Ahmed Mohammed al Saeedi, Minister of Health, said it had been five days since any new cases have been reported. “I think it is a good sign,” he said. There is no Omani infected with the virus abroad. The recovered individuals did not require any medical care, according to Dr Al Saeedi. “This is what people have been saying. Most of the cases are mild in nature’’.

Commenting on worries of home quarantine, the minister said: “Of course everyone will be worried, but the Ministry of Health and its partners have provided them with all the instructions... like needs of the quarantined individuals and the family care that is needed to protect them from a potential disease’’. All the six cases were imported, said the minister, and added, “The inbound passengers are being screened at all the airports — Muscat, Suhar and Salalah. There had been concern about transit patients and that also has been sorted out’’.

Dr Fatma al Ajmi of the ministry explained further, and said: “If the passengers are from non-affected areas, they continue the normal procedure from the aircraft. If they are from the affected areas, then we transfer them to the public health clinic where we segregate them again into people with symptoms and people without symptoms. Those with symptom are sent for clinical and lab investigation. Then they are transferred according to the assessment. In case of no symptoms, they are advised for home isolation’’.

Currently there are 2,367 people under quarantine for COVID-19, of which 49 are under institutional quarantine. Oman is at the third level of handling COVID-19 as all the cases have been imported. “There are five levels,” the minister explained. “First is the readiness, the second is when we know that it might have come from abroad and now we are in the third level where six cases have been reported, two have recovered completely. The fourth stage is when someone who comes from abroad infects someone locally and the fifth level is when it begins to spread within the community’’.

The priorities of the third phase are in preventing secondary and community transmissions, in addition to identifying arrivals coming from COVID-19 endemic countries for quarantine. The ministry has further strengthened health procedures at all points of entry and implementation of institutional or home quarantine in all the governorates, based on case by case assessment.

“The WHO has not brought in travel measures, but we as a country have issued restrictions on travel to certain countries. There are people walking about who are asymptomatic and cannot be detected. Regarding Omanis who are still in Iran, he said they will be brought back as there is liaison with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other government agencies. His Majesty’s government will not leave anyone out,” he said.

The ministry in coordination with the Royal Oman Police and Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance, operators of airports, ports and ground border crossings worked on suspension of direct air flights from endemic areas and implementing containment measures and infection prevention and control at the borders.

Quarantine has been lifted for the travellers coming from Singapore and Japan, but continues to be applied to all travellers coming from China, Iran, South Korea and Italy. Direct flights to China and Iran have been suspended, as well as charter tourism flights from Italy.

“We recommend citizens and residents if they have symptoms, they should avoid visiting markets, mosques and other public places’’.

In his comments to the Observer, the minister said: “All the information is given to the individual and the family. They are given governorate-wise contact numbers. I request quarantined people not to go out and not mix with family. Majority of them do not have the disease and this is a precautionary measure. Again washing hands is the best way to prevent the spread of this disease’’.

The minister stressed on the important role of the community in practising good hygiene. When asked about the availability of masks, the minister said “avoiding handshakes are more important than masks and medicines’’.

He also pointed out that children are less likely to be affected and men are more vulnerable to the virus than women, especially smokers. The minister also urged citizens and residents to fight rumours.

The ministry had started preparation for COVID-19 response since the announcement of the disease in China. In his statement the minister said, the most significant actions that were taken by the Sultanate were in the form of developing guidelines and policies on preventing the spread of the disease in the country, as well as on the means of dealing with any suspected imported cases. Healthcare professionals were trained and competencies and preparedness of the health institutions were increased to address the issue.

Moreover, the electronic epidemiological surveillance system has been updated to monitor the confirmed cases as well the quarantined people, in addition to improving the capacity of the ministry’s Central Public Health Laboratory, equipping it with the necessary diagnostic reagents.

In addition, the MoH Call Centre (24441999) has been activated round-the-clock along with hotlines in all governorates to ensure communication with citizens and residents, especially those under quarantine or to answer questions about the disease generally.