Oman govt office attendance rises to near 100%

The work attendance in all the public sector offices witnessed near 100 per cent capacity on Sunday as a sign of return to normal life in the country.

While precautionary measures continue to be in place, employees were found to be wearing masks and following social distancing as maximum as possible to keep the coronavirus at bay.

“The present situation, obviously, is not the same as before a few months back when the virus was raging unabated. Still, we have to be careful”, said Faiz al Lawati, an administrative staff at the Ministry of Health.

The Supreme Committee, dealing with the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, last week asked all employees in the government departments to return to work after visible improvement in the situation.

In the morning, traffic in most parts in the capital area was found swelling with people coming from their villages and others in the city heading towards the places of their work.

“Although we have been attending offices on alternative days during the past months, still it was happy to see the office functioning to its full capacity for the first time after the breakout of the pandemic”, said Hamed al Hadhrami, who works in the Ministry of Labour.

He said that when the officers were shuttered in the last week of March, “we expected it would be only for a short hiatus that we would be out of the office. But it was a long time”, he said with a sigh a relief.

For Ameera al Balushi, the presence of all her colleagues together after months of gap was very exciting.

“Even though the fear of the pandemic is still in the air with all precautionary measures around, the present ambience is inspiring, unlike the work from home situation. Returning to work is the right decision because you can only stay at home for so long,” she said.

While announcing the decision of full capacity work in government offices, the Supreme Committee asked all department heads to ensure that health employees follow the safety protocols announced by the authorities.