Muscat – The Ministry of Health (MoH) on Sunday announced 6,146 new infections registered in 72 hours – Thursday, Friday and Saturday – taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in Oman to 352,187. There were 14 more deaths in this period.

‘The total number of COVID-19 related deaths reported in the country now rises to 4,172,’ an MoH statement said.

It added that 6,640 new cases have recovered, accounting for a total of 325,860 recoveries.
‘Eighty-seven patients were hospitalised in the past 24 hours, accounting for a total of 373 COVID-19 patients currently in health institutions, including 60 in intensive care units,’ it stated.

The rising number of cases includes children who need hospitalisation. “We have children, one month to 16 year old, who have been infected with COVID-19 and are in ICU. Some children have chronic diseases, while others have severe pneumonia caused by COVID-19,” Dr Raghda Mohammed al Obaidani, ICU consultant at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, said in an interview with Oman TV.

According to Dr Hashim Ahmed, infectious disease consultant in the same hospital, “there is an increase in people infected with COVID-19 in Oman in general. Most are infected with the Omicron variant because of its rapid spread”.

Dr Ahmed urged people to adhere to the precautionary measures to control the surge.