Oman will reopen its land, air and sea borders as of Tuesday December 29, a government Twitter account said on Sunday. A negative COVID-19 polymerase test within 72 hours of entry is required for people from all countries and another test will be taken by those arriving from abroad at any of Oman"s airports, it said. Oman closed its borders last week to prevent a new strain of the coronavirus from entering the country. The COVID-19 supreme committee said that the decision to close the country’s land, air and sea borders was in response to the emergence of the new strain of the virus in other countries. The new strain causes the same medical conditions as the original but is 70 percent more infectious. It has been identified in the UK, several other European countries, Australia and South Africa, and the British health minister said on Sunday that it was “out of control.” The new threat emerged just as the introduction of several vaccines developed in the US, Britain and China raised hopes throughout the world that the COVID-19 pandemic could be defeated. Scientists in the UK are now studying the mutant strain to establish whether it is resistant to vaccines, but it will be at least two weeks before they have a definitive result.