Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Saeedi, Minister of Health, on Thursday said, in cooperation with the private sector, the ministry is all set to open the first phase of field hospital to handle coronavirus cases by September-end.
The minister was addressing the media during the Supreme Committee on Covid-19’s 14th press conference.
Highlights from the press conference.
Minister of Health: The opening of airports and borders will be discussed in the next meeting of the Supreme Committee
Minister of Health: We will open the first phase of field hospital by September-end, which will reduce the pressure on health institutions in all governorates in cooperation with the private sector.
Minister of Health: All institutions should end the ban on those over the age of 60. They should be not denied entry.
Minister of Health: Death cases of COVID-19 reported among some people who have not been outside their homes for years.
Minister of Health: Basic health services have not been affected by the pandemic, such as vaccinations, maternity and childcare.
Minister of Health: The Sultanate is witnessing a fluctuating number of infections, but the decline is more than the rise.
Minister of Health: We are in touch with all manufacturers of the Covid-19 vaccine and the Sultanate has joined the Global Vaccine Alliance of the World Health Organization.
Minister of Health: There are institutions that do not adhere to preventive measures and do not measure temperatures of the visitors or employees.
Minister of Health: We must focus on following the precautionary measures to avoid the increase in the number of infections. The most important thing is to avoid social gatherings.
Minister of Health: The number of new cases started to double in some countries after the opening of activities.
Minister of Health: No country can pretend that the Covid_19 epidemic is over
The Minister of Health: 256 new cases 86,380 total cases registered in the Sultanate. 81, 828 total recoveries at the rate of 94%.
Minister of Health: The Sultanate never reached the point that a patient was deprived of an intensive care bed due to its lack of availability.
Minister of Health: Any activity that requires large human gatherings must be prevented.
Saif bin Salem al Abri, Director General of Disease Control at the Ministry of Health: We do not rely on the number of tests to monitor the outbreak of the epidemic because it differs from one country to another. It depends on the number of inpatients and population density.
Minister of Health: The Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Health, has placed applications with all companies that are in the last stage of testing the vaccine.
Dr. Saif Al-Abri: The number of hospitalizations decreased by 38%, the number of inpatients in ICU decreased by 40%, and deaths decreased by 23%.
Minister of Health: There is a specialized team that meets weekly to review requests to reopen activities, including mosques. Islam is a religion that permits to perform religious duty from any place
Dr. Saif Al-Abri: There is no relationship between Sultanate’s participation in clinical trials and relations with companies. The Sultanate’s participation will be always based on internationally recognized protocols.
Minister of Health: There was an intention to participate in clinical trials of vaccines, but most of the companies put impossible or difficult conditions.
Minister of Health: 30% of those in intensive care suffer from kidney failure
Dr. Saif Al-Abri: PCR tests should be taken 3 days before a person travels, and MOH certifies all laboratories designated for this examination. The challenge for private hospitals is that they send samples to other laboratories.
Minister of Health: Health practices have been greatly affected by the pandemic, including delay in surgeries and others. We seek to gradually restore health services as before the pandemic
Dr Saif al Abri: We hope that the (self-reporting) feature of suspected cases will be implemented through the smart phone application (Tarassud +) very soon, in five languages.