Muscat: The Ministry of Health in Oman has so far reported 205 cases from Al Wusta Governorate, including 190 in Duqm and 15 in Haima.
Minister of Health on Thursday told the Observer that there is a technical team from MOH and the governorate to consider the situation of the spread of the virus among workers in Duqm.
The Special Economic Zone at Duqm has requested all companies operating in the zone to appointing a focal point of contact between the company, Duqm Hospital, and SEZAD to deal with cases of infection related to the project and provide the required data, transfer the infected cases to a place of isolation and supervising them.
The focal contact is preferred to be the HSE in charge, whose full name, designation, mobile number, and email address shall be emailed to hse@duqm.gov.om, not later than Monday, June 8.
It has requested companies to conduct daily check-ups for employees prior to mobilizing to the workplace and returning from there.
It directed the employees suffering from fever or respiratory symptoms to the new medical check-up Centre in the logistic area (C), located at the old site of the Combined Group Contracting Co.
The company shall isolate those, who had contact with infected cases, in the accommodation, for the period specified by Duqm Hospital, and ensure that they never leave the accommodation and also conduct daily follow up to monitor any symptoms that might appear.
All Companies are responsible for the expenses of accommodation, nutrition, and medical care of the infected cases in their project, during isolation in the institutional isolation places.
The authorities have requested all projects operating in Duqm Economic Zone to request their workers to stay at the accommodation post returning from work.
All projects shall provide the necessary services to their workers, including money transfer services.
This shall be in effect until lune 30.
SEZAD will take legal actions against any project that violates these instructions.
The Ministry of Health in Oman has so far reported 42 cases from Al Wusta, including 27 in Duqm.
It called for reducing the number of passengers in buses by half, and the density of gatherings in dining halls by organizing dining times or delivering food to the rooms.
Providing masks and hand sanitizers to workers at workplaces and accommodations, as well as implementing daily external examination of workers, before boarding the bus and heading for work. Any worker with symptoms or a high temperature shall be prevented from boarding the bus.
Taking into consideration the workers’ accommodation requirement, as per the health requirements issued by SEZAD, hygiene, sufficient ventilation, and inspection of the rooms on a daily basis shall be conducted to measure the workers’ temperature and monitor their health condition.
Not to bring any other workers from outside Duqm, unless written approval is obtained from SEZAD’s HSE Department. This is subject to submitting a written request including details of the workers and the place from where they are coming and taking into account compliance with the instructions set by SEZAD when issuing approval.
All violators of the Supreme Committee’s decisions will be seriously punished according to the regulations issued by the Royal Oman Police pursuant to decision No. 151/2020, issued on May 21, 2020. SEZAD shall also take legal actions against any project that violates the occupational health and safety requirements issued by SEZAD.
SEZAD commends all efforts and measures taken by the projects, operating in Duqm, to combat the spread of Coronavirus. We urge everyone to continue their efforts and adhere to the above-mentioned instructions, as we place all responsibility on main contractors to communicate these instructions to all sub-contractors and follow up on their implementation and adherence.