GCC Health Ministers hold 4th extraordinary meeting

Muscat: A statement issued online by the Ministry of Health (MoH) said, "As part of scaling up efforts to combat COVID-19 pandemic and developments, their Excellencies the GCC Health Ministers held an extraordinary virtual meeting today (Thursday).

The MoH added, "HE Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Saidi, Minister of Health headed the Sultanate delegation in the meeting with the presence of MOH’s Health Affairs Undersecretary and number of senior officials."

"Moderated from Al Bahrain, the fourth extraordinary meeting aimed at reviewing and addressing the latest updates regarding the emergence of a new mutated strain of the COVID-19-causing-virus announced in UK on December 2020 alongside the successive registration of other rapidly transmitted mutated strains in several countries. "

The MoH confirmed that "The meeting highlighted updates of the epidemiological situation indicators in the GCC countries, and the main protocols and precautionary measures in dealing with the mutant virus. Standards of vaccines registration as well the health requirements regarding the entry of member states’ nationals across entry points were also discussed."

The MoH also said, "On the mutated strains of COVID-19, HE Dr. Ahmed Al Saidi emphasized in his word during the meeting that the Sultanate is extremely cautious, pointing out to the precautionary measures and recent decisions made by the Supreme Council assigned with dealing with COVID-19 developments in order to combat and mitigate the spread of the disease. "

"The Health Minister suggested the establishment of a joint technical and structural mechanism among the GCC countries to accelerate procedures regarding vaccine and vaccination certificates while affirming that the supplying data and information on vaccines remains a challenge after being certified by the country of origin. Al Saidi stressed the Sultanate’s credibility in importing a fully guaranteed vaccine, emphasising hence further the need of a joint database for genome, standards, and studies to register vaccines."

"At the end of this special meeting, Secretary-General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf HE Dr Nayef. Al-Hajraf, valued the keenness of the gulf health ministers to combat the disease and deal with all developments to ensure the safety of citizens and residents in the GCC countries," the statement added.