The Minister of Health confirmed before the Shura Council that 100,000 doses of the Oxford vaccine have been booked and will arrive within a week.

According to the Ministry of Health, more than 27,000 people have received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 7,992 have got the second dose.

Ahmed bin Mohammad Al Saidi, Minister of Health said in a statement in front of the Shura Council, “The Sultanate will not import any medicine without ensuring that the medicine is safe, and the Sultanate is in compliance with health standards and requirements, and the lives of its citizens are the most important.

In order to ensure that the Sultanate obtains the required quantities and quality, several consultation and negotiation channels have been opened through the channels of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and the channel of direct negotiation with the vaccine manufacturers.”

ADVERTISING

Since mid-October, the rate of positive cases has dropped in the Sultanate but it is likely to increase, Oman’s Minister of Health said on Sunday.

The Minister of Health added in his speech in front of the Shura Council members: “The number of infections is likely to increase considering the continuation of the pandemic globally. On the other hand, the use of non-pharmacological interventions (such as bans, closure of activities and borders) has become a major challenge for states and governments.”

“The last update of the data indicated a significant decrease in the number of infections, deaths, and rates of positive results for COVID-19 since mid-October 2020,” he added.

Locally, the number of COVID-19 cases from the beginning of the pandemic to date has reached more than 133,044 confirmed cases of which 10,685 cases needed admission. 1,521 COVID-19 related deaths were registered.

The minister stressed that “the solutions for the next stage are limited to strengthening social and institutional preventive measures (such as physical distancing, wearing masks and hand hygiene) in order to live safely with the pandemic until the vaccination of target groups in the Sultanate is completed according to the established plan.”

SOURCE: TIMESOFOMAN