New York: The United Nations rated the Sultanate as the 5th most advanced Arab country in the field of electronic government, according to a new report on countries of the world issued by the UN Economic and Social Affairs Administration and published on its website.
The Sultanate ranked 50th globally in the index, which covers 193 countries, after receiving 0.7749 points (overall).
Oman got 0.8529 points in the index’s subsection on internet services, 0.6967 points in the telecom infrastructure index and 0.7751 points in the human capital index.
In its report, the UN pointed out that the Sultanate scaled up the list of “advanced countries” in e-government till it reached the level of “most advanced countries” during the period from 2018 to 2020. The latter was the list of countries like Turkey, Brazil, Czech Republic, Hungary and Latvia, whose performance ranged from 0.75 points to 1 point.
The report said that the Sultanate is among the countries that use drones to monitor roads, deliver medical supplies and sanitise public places. It pointed out that Royal Oman Police uses drones to guide citizens and residents to stay at home and avoid going out unless extremely necessary to avoid infection with coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Denmark was in the lead of the rating, followed by South Korea, Estonia and Finland.
The report indicated that, given the Covid-19 lockdown in the world, most countries implemented electronic government strategies and many innovative initiatives, but a large number of people around the world still lack access to the internet.
A UN official from the Economic and Social Affairs Administration pointed out that Covid-19 underscored the role of electronic government, both in the traditional use of electronic services or in the creation of innovative crisis management risks.
He explained that, in the case of response to health emergencies, governments devised new instruments, such as Covid-19 information portals, collaborate software modules (hackathons), medical supply e-services, virtual booking for appointments, self-diagnosis apps, electronic permits to ban movement, tracking apps, online work and online education.
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