Curfew 4 pm to 8 am from Ramadan 1

Work holiday extended until May 28

KUWAIT CITY, April 21, (Agencies): Kuwait government decided Monday to extend partial curfew for 16 hours and the national holiday up until May 28, while assigning the ministries of interior and information to name and shame those violating home quarantine and curfew.

Government Spokesman Tareq Al-Mezrem told a news conference the government and private institutions would extend their holiday until May 28 and would resume on Sunday, May 31. The national holiday which was imposed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) is originally scheduled to end on April 26. Al-Mezrem said the curfew, already in place to curb spread of the virus, would be extended starting the first day of holy month of Ramadhan.

He said the curfew would start at 4:00 pm until 8:00 am the next day but allowed restaurants and food stores to make home deliveries from 5:00 pm until 1:00 am.

Meanwhile, Al-Mezrem, said the government assigned the ministries of Interior and Information to make public the names of people violating home quarantine and the curfew in media and social media.

Virus cases detected in US camp

Meanwhile, more than 20 cases of the coronavirus have been detected among the US Army personnel working at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The daily said the US servicemen were infected by a Filipina who is hired by a private company and working as ‘accommodation’ supervisor inside the army camp.

The sources added the supervisor was taken to a public hospital a few days ago and all those who came in contact with her have been ‘home quarantined’.

The sources pointed out the camp administration and other bases have now decided to prevent the entry or exit of labor as a precautionary measure.

Imports banned from S. Carolina

Kuwait’s Public Authority for Food and Nutrition (PAFN) on Monday said that the Supreme Committee for Food Safety recommended prohibiting food products import from US’ South Carolina.

In a statement to KUNA, the committee’s Secretary, Adel Al-Swait, affirmed that all kinds of fresh, chilled, frozen, and processed bird meat of all types, derivatives, products and eggs were prohibited, except for the ones treated at a temperature of 70 degrees C due to the outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (H7N3) in the S. Carolina.

Dasma Co-op closed

The Board of Directors of Dasma and Bneid Al-Gar Cooperative Society affirmed that the central market in Dasma has been closed due to the discovery of a case of coronavirus among the workers, reports Al-Anba daily.

The Board of Directors said the management immediately contacted Dahiya, Mansouriya, Shaab and Daiya cooperative societies to divide the consumers among the region’s residents to the neighboring societies to deal with the situation.

They explained that they, upon communication with the three cooperative societies, agreed to take responsibility for the consumers residing in the residential plots. Based on the agreement, plots 1, 2 and 3 are now under the responsibility of Dahiya Cooperative Society in addition to plot 4 even though it receives a section of its citizens every day, and with plots 5 and 6 of Shaab Cooperative Society.

The Board of Directors affirmed that these cooperative societies will not be forgotten for their action, as coordination was cemented within a period not exceeding 30 minutes after the incident. They stood in support of actions for dealing with what happened in Dasma and Bneid Al-Gar Society and started receiving requests via “WhatsApp” from the residents of Dasma.

The board extended gratitude to everyone who stood in support of Dasma and Bneid Al-Gar Cooperative Society in these circumstances. They promised to work hard to open the market after the completion of sterilization.

They revealed that the market was closed for two hours, and upon communication with the stakeholders, they learnt that one of the workers had tested positive to coronavirus, so the market was closed immediately for sterilization and the concerned authorities were contacted to take the appropriate action.

On the other hand, the Board of Directors announced that all volunteer work has been completely suspended in all morning and evening shifts to fully sterilize the central market, calling on the people of the region and shareholders to take the safety measures and necessary precautions in the coming period to ensure that no one is infected.

It added, “As soon as the news about the infection of a worker was confirmed, we contacted the market administration and addressed them that the safety of the people and residents of Dasma is of firstdegree importance”.

They revealed that a worker in the night shift who was arranging commodities on shelves was referred to hospital on suspicion of coronavirus infection, and he tested positive, so the preventive health officials removed all 53 male and female workers, and necessary tests were conducted.

Work holiday extended

Kuwait government Monday adopted multi-faceted measures aimed at curbing spread of coronavirus and taking action against people who violated the curfew and home quarantine.

The government, chaired by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, assigned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and affiliate companies to coordinate with Ministry of Health to prepare quarantine facilities in North Ritqa and South KIPC to be used by MoH as soon as possible.

It assigned MoH to rapidly coordinate with ministries of Interior and Finance to boost strategic stocks of medicine and medical equipment to confront coronavirus, Deputy Premier, Minister of Interior and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh said in a statement.

The public and private sectors’ holiday will be extended from April 26 until May 28, and work will resume on Sunday, May 31, said Al-Saleh.

The Cabinet assigned the Ministry of Social Affairs to coordinate with Union of Cooperative Societies to remove all obstacles hindering the build-up of a strategic stock enough for six months.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) shall coordinate with Foreign Ministry, Custom Directorate, Kuwait Ports Authority and Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources to arrange imports of food through sea ports and border crossings.

The Cabinet, which approved MoH’s home quarantine regulations, assigned Kuwait Municipality to make sure food stores abide by health regulations.

They assigned ministries of Interior and Information to name and shame people who violated home quarantine and curfew in media, newspapers and social media.

The Cabinet assigned Kuwait National Fund For Small And Medium Enterprise Development to take appropriate measures to produce fabric-made masks to meet growing needs of people and citizens being repatriated.

The Cabinet also decided to continue payment of support wage for citizens working in the private sector even if they did not updated their working status or were abroad.

Also, the Cabinet expressed gratitude for His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah for addressing the nation on the first day of repatriation of citizens.

His Highness the Amir urged the citizens to fully comply with health instructions during the time they spent in quarantine. His Highness the Amir also thanked all those working at the frontlines for their dedication.

The Cabinet, said Al-Saleh, would comply with His Highness the Amir’s instructions for the sake of the well-being of citizens.

The government, on the other hand, mourned former Minister Jassem Khaled AlMarzouq and paid tribute to his service.

It strongly condemned a shooting attack in Nova Scotia, Canada, which killed a number of people, and asserted Kuwait’s rejection to these criminal attacks.

Kuwait reports 2 deaths

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health reported 85 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the total of infections to 2,080, while two deaths were reported as well, bringing the total fatalities’ toll up to 11.

During its daily briefing, Health Ministry Spokesperson Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said that 46 patients were in intensive care, 20 of them are in critical condition.

Those currently receiving treatment at hospitals reached 1,657 patients said the spokesperson. Tuesday’s death cases are for a 59-year-old Bangladeshi male and a 63-yearold Somali male; both were receiving treatment at ICU.

Earlier Tuesday, Health Minister Dr Bassel Al-Sabah announced the recovery of 45 patients, bringing the total to 412 recoveries.

Yarmouk Co-op ready for total curfew

Deputy Chairman of Yarmouk Cooperative Society Saad Al-Sanea confirmed that all plans to impose regional or total curfew are ready for implementation, indicating the cooperative has a large number of volunteers

– about 100 – on standby for any decision or emergency in the service of Kuwait and to ensure the safety of the people, reports Al-Anba daily.

In a special statement to the daily, Al-Sanea affirmed the volunteers are very cooperative as reflected in their consistent attendance and dedication in implementing instructions. These volunteers are exerting tremendous efforts and shoulder a lot of burdens in order to provide services to residents in the area. They work diligently, follow up the application of precautionary measures, assist shoppers, ensure the safety of everyone, wear masks and gloves, place sterilizers and deliver to homes, he added.

Citizens urged to follow guidelines

Minister of Health Sheikh Dr Bassel Al-Sabah stressed the need for returning citizens to follow the health instructions and guidelines in order to overcome this phase with the desired results, reports Al-Rai daily.

During an interview in the “Ten to Ten” program on Al-Rai TV, the minister said, “The measures taken outweigh the citizen’s interests over other interests. With the return of more than 30,000 citizens from abroad, we are expecting to witness peak numbers of coronavirus cases in the coming four-six weeks. However, I am confident that awareness and following the guidelines will enable us to overcome this stage.”

Sheikh Dr Bassel stressed that, “The procedures followed by Kuwait in dealing with the coronavirus cases require treating all patients inside the hospital, and not allowing them to go out in order to protect the society”.

He revealed that the absorptive capacity in hospitals ranges between 10,000 and 15,000 beds.