Oman lifts travel ban before storm

muscat — Oman lifted a twoweek ban on travel between provinces a day earlier than planned on Friday, before the expected arrival of a large tropical storm, state news agency ONA said.

The ban on travel between governorates was imposed by the Gulf state on July 25 to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus during the Eid Al Adha holiday.

It was lifted at 2pm on Friday, instead of on Saturday as had been planned, as it is expected to be hit by the storm in the Arabian Sea.

A full lockdown of the Dhofar province in the south will be maintained until further notice.

A previously announced plan to reduce on Saturday its curfew for a week to between 9pm and 5am, instead of 7pm to 6am still holds.

Oman, a country of 4.7 million people, has recorded total 81,067 coronavirus infections and 502 deaths. It registered 354 new cases and 10 deaths during the last 24 hours on Friday.

It introduced lockdowns in March in some regions such as Muscat, Dhofar, Duqm and some tourist towns. Since April, it has gradually allowed commercial centres to reopen and lifted some lockdowns. But it tightened measures for the long Eid holiday after infection numbers rose through June.

Saudi reports 1,567 new cases

The Saudi Arabia health ministry on Friday reported 1,567 new cases of coronavirus, taking the total number of cases to 285,793.

The number of total recoveries reached 248,948. With 38 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the total number of fatalities stood at 3,093. There are a total of 33,752 active cases in the country, the ministry added.

720 new recoveries in Kuwait

Some 720 people recovered from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours bringing the total to 62,330, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health said on Friday. The Kuwait News Agency, KUNA, reported the ministry as saying that the new number was based on clinical tests, which proved that the patients were now virusfree.—