Muscat – After a critical period in the COVID-19 pandemic when the sultanate saw high daily case counts and deaths, there is a collective sigh of relief as 2021 draws to an end. For the first time, Oman reported zero deaths in a one month period.

While Ministry of Health (MoH) figures indicate a recovery rate of 98.5 per cent among COVID-19 patients, latest infection numbers too reflect a downward trend with less than 25 daily cases in the past month.

Thirty-two COVID-19 related deaths were reported in September, 15 in October and two in November. The last death was reported on November 8.

According to MoH data, the total number of COVID-19 infections and related deaths were 304,679 and 4,113, respectively, as of Thursday.

Twenty-five new cases were registered on the day. The number of recoveries was 300,066.
While the drop in cases and deaths is attributed to high vaccine coverage, precautionary measures such as wearing masks, hand hygiene and maintaining social distancing have also played a major role in improving the situation, MoH has stated.