Commercial activities will resume in Muscat after the national task force handling the coronavirus pandemic in Oman decided to lift restrictions on the movement of residents and vehicles. The government body, meanwhile, clarified that public health protocols will remain in place as previously. This would include limited customer capacity inside businesses, gyms, and sports clubs as well as delivery-only operations to remain closed after 8:00 p.m.
While commercial activities and shops will be allowed to operate after 8pm, there is a strict ban on entry of customers. Delivery and handling systems, on the other hand, are allowed. Customers can enter food stores throughout the day, while shopping malls, restaurants, shops, and cafes can have not more than 50 per cent of their seating capacity, that too until 8 p.m.
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Children below the age of 12 are not allowed entry into business establishments, the report added.
Oman’s Supreme Committee earlier issued new directives, effective May 15, which lifted movement restrictions, barred in-store customers between 8 p.m. until 4 a.m. and resumption of work in all government offices albeit with 50 percent workforce.
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Oman employs a large number of OFWs, especially in the healthcare industry. As of 2011, there are between 40,000 and 46,000 of these Filipinos in Oman. A large destination for Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs),
Oman was the only Middle Eastern nation included on the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration’s list of nations safe for OFWs. The country still holds the title up to this day.
Oman is the tenth largest destination for Filipino domestic workers hired or rehired from 2006–2011, but Filipinos are also employed in the health care industry as physicians and nurses, or as sales associates and cosmetologists. (AW)
