Muscat: The day one of the lockdown was hugely successful in the Sultanate as everyone was seen following the rules in response to the call of the Supreme Committee for COVID-19.
A sense of individual responsibility in achieving the national goal was in the air. A sense of reverence, a common feeling of supporting the nation in the face of a pandemic was felt throughout the 11 hours of lockdown at night.
All roads wore a deserted look. A couple of vehicles that had some emergency, besides some water tankers, were seen plying on the main highway during the lockdown time.
Supermarkets, hypermarkets and all commercial outlets in different sectors had announced their rescheduled working hours in response to the lockdown orders.
Jayakumar Vallickav, a resident of Oman for nearly four decades, said this lockdown gave mixed emotions as he felt the time stopped for a while.
"In my 34 years in the Sultanate, I've never seen such a time when the entire country is in a standstill as if time stopped for a while. I am proud of the citizens and residents who respected the lockdown orders. The good thing is that we are going to conquer this pandemic and life will be brought back to normal soon, thanks to the country."
For Sudeep, a travel expert highlighted the role of media in creating awareness about the pandemic. “The media kept people well informed with the right information,” he said.
"On Saturday, many people seemed confused about the road closures and other regulations. However, there was full clarity by the latter part of the day, thanks to the media.”
He advanced his evening walk with his pet by an hour to get back before the lockdown started and saw people rushing home to avoid any sort of penalisation.
"Later, I stepped out of my gate around 9 pm to see if there were any movement, the road looked empty, it felt like a curfew," said Sudeep.
"I believe that as residents we should follow rules and support government decisions. This is the only way to stop the spread of coronavirus," said Lijihas, a shipping and logistics professional who had to plan his shipments a little advance.
Aziz Hashim, a resident of Batinah region had an experience which is an indicator of the humanity of the Royal Oman Police officials. He had to visit Falaj area by 4 pm hoping that he could return before the lockdown begins. But his car refused to start and was jinxed with no hope around as hours passed. He waved at a passing ROP vehicle which took him to Tareef and dropped him at his home.
"I knew the face of the ROP is humanity in my long years in the Sultanate. But this experience was truly touching and I closely felt it," Aziz shared his experience in an emotional tone.
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