Oman asks airlines to give lists of incoming travellers

Muscat: : Sheikh Rashid Ahmed Al Shamsi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Social Development, said that the Sultanate has tasked airline companies to announce their lists of incoming travellers to facilitate the process of institutional isolation in accordance with the decision of the Supreme Committee.

He said that 1,700 citizens arriving from abroad were quarantined. The Supreme Committee’s decision to prohibit the arrival of travellers from certain countries was due to the fact that tests on such travellers showed many COVID-19-positive cases, some of which exceeded 20 percent of segments, said the Minister of Health.

In addition, Brig. Mohammed Salam Al Hashami of the Directorate-General Public Relations, Royal Oman Police (ROP), said that the ROP is following up developments and decisions of the Supreme Committee.

He affirmed that access to those who breach quarantine conditions is easy, even when the quarantined person strips off the tracking bracelet.

The ROP activated a centre to receive reports via telephone No. 1099 about those who violate COVID-19 measures, said Brig. Mohammed Al-Hashami, who observed that non-wearing of face masks topped the list of violations reported over the recent period, followed by the offense of assembling.

Dr. Salim Hamdan Al-Tamimi, Senior Pediatric Consultant at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, said that not serious side-effects have been associated with any COVID-19 vaccines and that, when such cases occur, they are usually very rare.

He warned that many socially disseminated reports of alleged side-effects are baseless and cannot be scientifically corroborated. Some countries began to register downtrends in mortality and infection cases, as well as hospitalization and admission intensive care units.

Dr. Salim Al-Tamimi pointed out that any vaccine that has an efficiency rate of more than 50 percent would be acceptable to the World Health Organisation.

 Hamoud Mohammed Al-Mantheri, Coordinator of the National Relief and Shelter Sector, National Committee for Management of Emergencies, said that a large number of offenders who arrived via the Sultanate’s travel checkpoints showed dummy bookings, but their stratagems were later nullified, with their bookings cross-checked and their places of residence revealed.