‘Self quarantine best option’

‘Kuwait has done well to control corona’

“THE State of Kuwait, has achieved great success in organizing and completing the necessary medical tests for the new corona pandemic (COVID-19) on the most susceptible groups and those suspected of contracting the disease, and the proportion of those included in the test was 2.1% of the total population,” columnist Dr Ali Abdurrahman Al-Huwail wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“This test is considered by the World Health Organization as the backbone of the pandemic control system to contain the spread of the virus.

“Initially, the State of Kuwait resorted to prohibiting entry into Kuwait to suspending the schools and halting government work in all its departments and the private sector with the exception of those working in the vital sectors such as oil production, electricity, medicine, security, nutrition, and the like until further notice.

“The World Health Organization (WHO) has termed Kuwait, South Korea and Singapore as the most successful states in the world in terms of fighting COVID-19 pandemic.

“Meanwhile, the death percentage is believed to be 3.8%, which are usually among the elderly and people with HIV or those who are treated with drugs that reduce the immunity, as well as those with chronic diseases such as kidney failure, diabetics, high blood pressure, diseases of the lungs and respiratory system.

“However, the danger of this disease rests in its rapid spread and the increasing among people who are sick and according to the World Health Organization statistics, the number of the victims doubles every 26 days in general and this is called the growth rate, while the infection rate or R Knot is estimated at 2.3 percent, meaning that the patient or vector can infect 2.3 others according to a number of the patient mixes with healthy people and the degree of their commitment to personal protection.

“This means the number of patients is slowly increasing beginning with a certain level then multiplying in staggering numbers that surprise the control agencies in the concerned country.

“The first 100 patients may appear within two months and then multiply in a few days – according to the rate of growth – in each country to become 200,400 and this figure is likely to reach one million, two millions until it reaches 53 million cases two years after the first case was discovered.

“If we take Italy as an example where the growth rate increases every 4 days, it is possible ‘mathematically’ that the disease will affect 63 million Italians within only 3-4 months. Such being the case no country will be able to provide appropriate treatment services, so the deaths will increase between them and the prevention plans and this means the community will suffer in the event of panic and turmoil and chaos will prevail, security will be at the lowest level and the state will collapse. There is no way to avoid this catastrophe except by flattening the curve by curtailing the enhancement rate through actualizing the detection tests to reveal the number of pertinent cases.

“Such being the case, the concerned authorities, shall minimize the exposure of those who bask in good health and keep them away from the patients by ‘detaining’ them in healthy quarantine through social isolation.

“It is noteworthy that some medicines for other diseases are being used to accelerate the recovery from COVID-19, as the French emphasize the benefit of malaria drugs in accelerating recovery, while the Japanese use flu treatments and Americans resort to drugs that were used to treat SARS and MERS to resemble the viruses that cause these diseases.”

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Dr Al-Huwail

“Turkey did not abide by the Sochi Agreement that was signed by both Turkey and Russia to declare Idlib city in Syria as a de-escalation zone,” Hamad Saleh Al-Qattan wrote for Annahar daily.

“Apart from the above, this agreement entails confronting the excommunicated armed groups by both Russian and Turkish armies and keeping the relevant area under the Syrian domination.

“However, the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after almost 18 months since the signing of the agreement, recently declared a different attitude. His army was involved in an attempt to dominate Idlib city, but this attempt was doomed for failure due to the Syrian resistance in this area.

“The Turkish decision in this regard resulted in agitating a fierce fight in this area during which many of the Turkish army officers and soldiers were killed. As per relevant reports, the Turkish Air force had been exposed to certain losses.

“Even though the above was reported by the news agencies, we would like to submit necessary political analysis because these battles had conduced to some political and future outcomes and expectations such as:

1. Turkey hopes to restore the domination of the Ottoman Empire on the region based on hopes derived from the history of such an empire and its pride of the same.

2. It would not be relayed on the American aspect in terms of dominating the land because some reports were leaked recently which prove the existence of coordination between Ankara and Washington as per which the latter has been providing moral support to the former. However, Washington did not abide by its undertakings towards Ankara after the bloody battles that occurred in Idlib city and its outskirts.

3. No military force will be in a position to defeat the Syrian army and the resistance on the Syrian land. In this regard, we highlight the fact that Syria, post the failure of excommunicated armed forces that were supported by both Israel and America, had managed to present a strong front, and that the Syrian army is one of the strongest regular armies which had been globally classified as the second best army in the region.

4. Turkey will have no way to get access to the region except through one gate which is the gate of defending the Syrian territories. This entails the conclusion of the necessary agreement and realizing necessary agreements with the Syrian army in a bid to maintain the future of Turkey, especially in the wake of the failed military coup that took place in Turkey in 1916 as well as after the recent battles between the Syrian and Turkish armies.

“The questions we must ask here are – Where will the Turkish greediness lead? Will such greediness lead towards a war and commitment to the previous erroneous decisions? Or will it result in bias towards the international neutrality?

The answers to these questions will be revealed in the coming few days following the prospective meeting between the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin who tried to ease the brunt of convulsion between the four concerned parties – Syria, Iran, Russia and Turkey, but the relevant decision is yet to be taken on the ground.”

“The government was forced to implement the partial curfew because some citizens and residents did not abide by the laws and strict instructions that it had issued in a bid to combat and curb the spread of the coronavirus, especially social distancing. It declared that any violators of the curfew will be subjected to a fine of KD 10,000 and/ or three-year imprisonment,” for Al-Anba daily.

“The Cabinet announced that the partial curfew would be from 5:00 pm to 4:00 am. We appreciate the fact that this crisis has proved the steadfastness of the people of this country to the extent that more and more philanthropists are directly or indirectly participating in reducing the ramifications of the crisis.

“Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al-Roudhan assured that volunteer work teams will be formed in every area to ensure necessary goods reach every citizen and resident. Thankfully, foodstuff is available in the market in plenty, and there is no reason to panic.

“The measures taken by the cooperative societies to practically implement social distancing and avoid crowding by not allowing more than 50 shoppers at a time inside the supermarkets are on point and commendable. In addition to that, restricted movement comes in handy in order to curb the spread of coronavirus. This is in line with the directives of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who said, “If you hear the emergence of plague in a certain land, you shouldn’t go to it and its inhabitants shouldn’t exit it”.

“All the countries in the world did not do what Kuwait did under the leadership of the Amir of Global Humanitarian Leader His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlJaber Al-Sabah. Kuwait donated $40 million to the World Health Organization (WHO), $10 million to Iran and $10 million to Iraq.

“We thank the Minister of Health Sheikh Dr. Bassel Al-Sabah for bringing necessary equipment to tackle the spread of coronavirus through procurement of 400,000 testing kits.

“We also appreciate the efforts rendered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Muhammad for his genuine concern about the problems faced by approximately 60,000 Kuwaiti citizens abroad and ensure they are able to return to Kuwait.

“We thank the Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Dr. Khaled Al-Fadhil for restoring water supply in houses that had defaulted.

“We thank the Minister of Information and his ministry for spreading awareness and guidance to citizens and residents.

“Bravo to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Anas Al-Saleh for his efforts and the efforts of his ministry which span round the clock to ensure public order.

“Last but not least, we thank and salute the Minister of Health, doctors, nurses and all those who work in the health sector for what they do to serve Kuwait.

“To be honest, it is wonderful to see some citizens of both genders being trained to drive large trucks and buses in anticipation of troubling times ahead, especially when many expatriates might leave in this regard. May Almighty Allah protect Kuwait and its people, and the entire world from this calamity!”

Adel Nayef Al-Mezel

wrote

“The Corona Year revealed to us at the local level the performance of the Kuwaiti government and its professional ministries and related institutions, which impressed us and dazed the world, especially the World Health Organization, which commends on a daily basis the success of the Kuwaiti experience in limiting the spread of corona virus,” columnist Amer Al-Faleh wrpte for Al-Rai daily.

“Kuwait started early, and perhaps it is the country that follows China to activate the precautionary measures towards this epidemic, as it is the first to take an action to suspend schools and universities, at a time when no country other than China had started this procedure.

“Kuwait also is the first to start disrupting government work to control people gatherings and reduce contacts, which are the fastest ways to prevent the spread of the disease.

“Kuwait is the first in issuing the most daring legal fatwa to close mosques, and disrupting Friday prayers and congregation with a firm and deep fatwa, indicating the depth of jurisprudence in Kuwait.

“It is the first in disrupting and closing malls and commercial complexes, which weighed heavily on the private sector and the Kuwaiti economy, but it is worth saving lives and the health of the citizen and the resident.

“After these preceding measures for Kuwait - which dazed all the countries affected by the epidemic - all countries of the world did not delay in applying and activating these measures, after the world praised Kuwait, and here are the countries that announce one by one to apply the Kuwaiti professional experience.

“We are proud of all the national, resident and Bedoun working groups that lead this outstanding achievement that is calculated for Kuwait and writes history that Kuwait is one of the first countries to contribute to eradicating the most dangerous and deadly epidemic in history.

“We are proud of the contributions of many companies and businessmen, and public interest societies and charity committees, in cash and kind, and this is not strange for them.

“We are proud of the ministers in their respective fields and the Prime Minister who were on the front lines of confrontation with this disease, and still praying day and night to protect this country, which is part of a world which we humans share.

“We are proud of the Amir of the country, who gave a green light to his ministers to combat this epidemic, without distinguishing between a citizen and a resident, but rather proud of him who did not forget to lend a hand to countries that suffer from their weak capabilities and resources to fight the disease.

“We are proud of Kuwait, HH the Amir, the government and people, citizens and residents, for this wonderful image that honored us.”

“Many of us criticize the government’s performance, its shortcomings, and its delay in accomplishing its vital work, but the moment we discovered the first corona virus infection we saw the government taking the right direction to ensure everyone living on its land is protected and despite its lack of experience in health crises, the government’s performance in all other sectors has been outstanding and getting better and better with each passing day,” columnist Dr Nabeela Shihab wrote for Al-Jarida daily .

“The transparency with which the state dealt with the health crisis and every minute detail in front of citizens and residents and assuming this responsibility was the first litmus test for everyone living on this land, its respect for them and its concern for the safety of everyone without exception.

“The situation was not giving speeches, or shouting slogans, rather, what we saw was responsible actions in the real sense. The government dealing with citizens and expatriates in a unique manner and this was witnessed by all – praised by international organizations.

“Protecting everyone and educating them how to deal with the outbreak of the epidemic in terms of its symptoms and how to prevent it and how to deal with it in the event of infection were at a high level, all the concerned state ministries worked hand-in-hand to protect the citizens and residents and did not leave them vulnerable to rumors.

“No less than 8,000 or more citizens volunteered within two days to do any work or place where the government needs them to help contain the crisis. We also found the people aware of the seriousness of the situation so it was easy for them to stay at home and reduce communication with others.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb