Following rising COVID-19 deaths and rapid spread of the pandemic, medical experts are calling for immunisation of all over 18 years at the earliest as this age group comprises the largest percentage of Oman’s population.

Dr Ahmed Sulaiman al Harrasi, founder of the Natural and Medical Sciences Research Centre at University of Nizwa, tweeted, “In light of the spread of the Delta variant that targets all groups, we must expedite the vaccination programme in those over 18 years. Oman is a young society and this group constitutes a large proportion of it.”

Speaking from his experience, Dr Hamad bin Khalifa al Kalbani said those over 18 must be vaccinated at a record pace – at least 100,000 per day. A resident physician in the Cardiac Surgery Department at University of Sorbonne, Paris, he said, “The Supre-me Committee should seek the assistance of medical and nursing students, retirees, researchers and the army, if necessary, in the immunisation process.”

Reiterating the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing infection and complications in case of infection despite immunisation, Dr Ahmed al Ammar, director of Public Health in the Gulf Health Council, informed that the odds of death from coronavirus for a non-vaccinated person is three in 100. For a vaccinated person, it is one in a million.

“Our hospitals are full and the number of deaths is rising. COVID-19 is destroying our healthcare system; we cannot bear the loss of life due to this disease. We urge everyone to follow all precautions for everyone’s safety,” said citizen Ahmed al Araimi. 

According to citizen Mohammed al Abri, more than 95 per cent of deaths are among unvaccinated people, and more than 90 per cent of those in intensive care are unvaccinated. “We must hurry to vaccinate as many people as possible.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health stated that it will start providing the second dose of vaccine – Sputnik V – to workers in the private health sector in Muscat. All doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacist and paramedical staff are eligible for the second dose.

257 deaths, 14,564 new cases in seven days 

The surge in COVID-19 infections continues with Oman reporting 5,517 new cases and 119 deaths on Sunday – the highest for a three-day period. The past week has also been the deadliest and most infectious with 257 deaths and 14,564 new cases recorded from June 20 to June 26. 

With the rise in new cases, hospitals are under tremendous pressure. The number of inpatients and those in intensive care – 1,635 and 489 respectively – is also unprecedented. 

‘The total number of cases registered in the sultanate has now reached 262,059, including 2,967 deaths,’ a Ministry of Health (MoH) statement said on Sunday. 

The total number of recoveries is 229,998, with the recovery rate now going down to 87.8 per cent.

‘Two hundred and fourteen people were admitted to hospitals across the country in the last 24 hours, ’ the MoH stated.