Muscat – Wearing face masks in both private and government hospitals in Oman is mandatory, according to an official in the Ministry of Health (MoH).

An official from the ministry said, “The Directorate General for Disease Surveillance and Control in the MoH issued a set of recommendations to reduce the risk of the Corona COVID-19 pandemic, such as obligating health workers, patients and visitors to wear face masks inside government and private health institutions.

He explained, “The ministry urges health workers to take the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for those who have spent more than 6-9 months after receiving the last dose, examine suspected cases, isolate patients and classify them into groups (suspected or confirmed).”

The ministry also confirmed the continuation of implementing administrative measures such as preventing gatherings of all kinds, approving sick leaves for the infected and reducing the number of visitors in the health institutions and implementing precautionary measures to prevent transmission of infection in health institutions.

The ministry indicated the necessity of providing a specialised team in infection control in each institution to supervise the procedures and follow up the infection data in the institution.

The ministry confirmed that it took these measures after the increase in the number of health workers with COVID-19 at health institutions (governmental and private) with the increase in gatherings, community events and opening of travel to many countries.

He added, “Measures of prevention and infection control at the level of the health sector will ensure the continuity of work and the services provided and will reduce the risk of infection acquired within health institutions. The Ministry has not issued any instructions to ease preventive measures in the health sector since the start of the pandemic.”