Muscat: Delivery services for groceries and food outlets will remain suspended between 9:00 pm and 4:00 am during the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Supreme Committee tasked with tacking the Coronavirus has confirmed.

In a press conference held today to discuss the nation’s fight against the virus, the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, Qais bin Mohammed Al-Youssef, reiterated that delivery services across the Sultanate will remain closed until the COVID-19 restrictions on night movement will be lifted.

This, as per the Minister, is because of the “difficulty in monitoring” activities of workers in the profession.

In a separate interview with BusinessLiveME, Hussain al Lawati, a restauranteur stated: “Yes, the night movement ban does affect our business. But, we see that people who want to buy our food will do so before the closing hours.

“Besides, I am 100 per cent on board the Ministry’s decision to close shops and restrict delivery boys from operating during those hours. As a part of their job, they tend to visit many homes, and they could get infected if they are exposed to it during a delivery run, especially if the customer isn’t following COVID-19 protocols or vice versa.

“Also, I have seen these workers gathering close to restaurants together. That could be a breach of COVID-19 protocols. It’s just better for us to follow these decisions now so that we can return to normalcy quicker.

“We have a vaccine that is being administered to people, and I am sure that a nice percentage of the society will get vaccinated sooner or later. This is all positive news – so a lockdown at night is something we are completely on board.”

Albeit, services that will be excluded from the night movement ban during the Holy Month of Ramadan include:

1. Three-ton trucks
2. Health workers
3. Media professionals
4. Pharmacies on the shift system