Cairo: Omani courts have convicted dozens of people for violating rules in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus as the country is battling to stem the potentially fatal disease.
The First Instance Court in the state of Bahla ordered 72 people to pay a fine of RO 1,000 each for flouting the anti-coronavirus precautions, Omani news portal Shabiba reported today.
The defendants were arrested last month for illegally gathering in a farm in violation of a health ban on such gatherings. The violation was detected two weeks before Oman’s supreme committee in charge of tackling the COVID-19 crisis warned that names and photos of violators of precautions against the highly infectious disease will be published in the media.
The public prosecution has said that the names and the photos will be made public after court rulings are issued against the offenders.
Two to be deported
Eight foreigners were also convicted of violating the anti-virus rules in Sur, the capital city of Oman’s Al Sharqiyah South Governorate, Shabiba reported.
The city’s First Instance Court ordered each offender to pay RO 1,000, and two of them be deported from Oman for violating the country’s foreign residencey and labour regulations. The eight were arrested during a ban on movement.
On Sunday, Oman began reimposing a night-time ban on movement running until October 24 in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The measure was taken due to a recent increase in the numbers of the virus cases and deaths in the country.
