Background: COVID-19's emergence carries with it many uncertainties and challenges, including strategies to manage the epidemic. Oman has implemented non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. However, responses to NPIs may be different across different populations within a country with a large number of migrants, such as Oman. This study investigated the different responses to NPIs, and assessed the use of the time-varying reproduction number (R t) to monitor them. Methods: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 data for Oman, from February 24 to June 3, 2020, were used alongside demographic and epidemiological information. Data were arranged into pairs of infector-infectee, and two main libraries of R software were used to estimate reproductive number (R t). R t was calculated for both Omanis and non-Omanis. Findings: A total of 13,538 cases were included, 44.9% of which were Omanis. Among all these cases we identified 2769 infector-infectee pairs for calculating R t. There was a sharp drop in R t from 3.7 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.8-4.6) in mid-March to 1.4 (95% CI 1.2-1.7) in late March in response to NPIs. R t then decreased further to 1.2 (95% CI 1.1-1.3) in late April after which it rose, corresponding to the easing of NPIs. Comparing the two groups, the response to major public health controls was more evident in Omanis in reducing R t to 1.09 (95% CI 0.84-1.3) by the end of March. Interpretation: Use of real-time estimation of R t allowed us to follow the effects of NPIs. The migrant population responded differently than the Omani population.
The purpose of this paper is to assess and examine the street food preferences of tourists in Malaysia. It will also aim to figure out the reasons why tourists chose these foods, which will lead them to revisit their destinations. Tourism Malaysia portrays street food as a significant antecedent in drawing foreign visitors to this country for their travel purposes. The aim of this study is to inspect how the characteristics of street food impact the growth of food tourism in Malaysia. A sample of 331 tourists enjoying street food in Kuala Lumpur was conducted in this study. The results suggest that a positive and significant relationship is found between service quality and tourist satisfaction. Furthermore, a positive and significant relationship is not found between product quality and physical environment with tourist satisfaction. In addition, this study also argues that tourism perception mediates the relationship between products quality, physical environment, and service quality with tourist satisfaction. Smart PLS 3.0 was used to evaluate the data using the quantitative approach. The findings indicated marketing techniques that were significantly explored in the study. This study shows that Malaysian street food is a major demand for international visitors that needs to be nurtured. It will enable street food business stakeholders in Malaysia to build strategies to encourage food tourism, change and coordinate tourism products, enhance farming techniques and eventually improve the reputation of destination and location branding.
Background: Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), particularly mobility restrictions, are mainstay measures for the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. We evaluated the effects of Oman’s mobility restriction strategies to highlight their efficacy in controlling the pandemic. Methods: Accessible national data of daily admissions and deaths were collected from 1 April 2020 to 22 May 2021. Google Community Mobility Report (CMR) data were downloaded for the same period. Among six CMR categories, three were used and reduced to one index—the community mobility index (CMI). We used a generalised linear model with a negative binomial distribution combined with a non-linear distributed lag model to investigate the short-term effects of CMI on the number of admitted PCR-confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths, controlling for public holidays, day of the week, and Eid/Ramadan days. Results: We demonstrated the feasibility of using CMRs in the evaluation and monitoring of different NPIs, particularly those related to movement restriction. The best movement restriction strategy was a curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. (level 3 of CMI = 8), which had a total reduction of 35% (95% confidence interval (CI); 25–44%) in new COVID-19 admissions in the following two weeks, and a fatality reduction in the following four weeks by 52% (95% CI; 11–75%). Conclusion: Evening lockdown significantly affected the course of the pandemic in Oman which lines up with similar studies throughout the world.
Advertising Effectiveness assists organizations to perceive and understand the requirements and needs of customers. To survive in today's business world, it is very important to know the effectiveness of advertising in term of consumer attractiveness. Being a developing economy, Bangladesh is gradually becoming a large market, especially for the fast-changing consumer goods sector. In the last few years, the consumer goods industry in Bangladesh has experienced a dramatic growth; both qualitative and quantitative improvements have occurred in the consumer durable items. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that affect advertising effectiveness in case of consumer attractiveness in the era of Covid-19. Using a sample of 200 Bangladeshi customers the study identified six factors that affect advertising effectiveness, namely, attention, knowledge, judgment, interest, preference and advocacy. Respondents were directly asked to provide their perceptions or evaluations regarding the factors, using a five point Likert scale. Multiple regression analysis is used in order to test the hypotheses developed in the study. The results reveal that that except advocacy all other factors have significant impact on the advertising effectiveness in case of consumer attractiveness during COVID-19. On the basis of the findings of this study, it can be concluded that attention, knowledge, judgment, interest and preference are jointly and independently predict advertising effectiveness. This result is consistent with the findings of pre-pandemic situation which implies that the role of advertising does not change that much due to pandemic situation in terms of attracting consumers. Based on the findings of this research, it is expected that the concerned authority should formulate necessary guidelines to overcome the problems associated with the advertising effectiveness especially after the Post-Covid situation.
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