Oman will reduce the hours of the evening lockdown but will lift movement between regional towns starting from August 8, the national committee responsible for the pandemic said on Wednesday.
Oman’s evening restrictions between 7pm to 6am started on July 25 and ends on August 8 together with the travelling restrictions between regional towns.
The National Supreme Committee for Covid-19 on Wednesday completely lifted the lockdown between regions but reduced the evening curfew from 9 pm to 5 am starting from August 8 to August 15.
“This decision has been reached after the committee reviewed reports of the pandemic development in the country during the lockdown period,” the committee responsible for Covid-19 said.
But the lockdown restrictions will still apply for the southern region of Dhofar for an indefinite period, locking it out from the rest of the country.
Ten days ago, Oman's government hospitals stopped testing people with minor symptoms for the virus saying the hospitals needed room to deal with more critical cases. Currently, only private hospitals do testing for about 70 rials (Dh693) per test. The government hospitals are testing only patients with serious symptoms or who have been admitted.
The Ministry of Health also stopped reporting the number of infected people during the Eid holidays expected to end on August 8. At the last count, a day before the Eid holiday that started on July 31, the Ministry of Health then reported 79,159 infected cases in the country with 422 deaths while 61,421 people recovered.
