Six deaths...841 cases on lockdown-8
MUNICIPALITY SHUTS 175 SHOPS ... GUARD RUNS NUZHA CO-OP STORE Economy seen co-existing with COVID
KUWAIT CITY, May 18, (Agencies): The Ministry of Health of Kuwait announced Monday that the lethal novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has claimed the lives of six people in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll up to 118.
In his daily coronavirus update, the Health Ministry Spokesperson Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad stated that 841 people have tested positive for the highly contagious virus today, increasing the overall number of infections in the country to 15,691. He pointed out that 161 patients were in intensive care. Al-Sanad noted that the ministry has conducted 3,838 coronavirus tests in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of tests conducted up to 248,314.
Earlier, the Health Ministry announced the recovery of 246 COVID-19 patients, bringing the total to 4,339 recoveries.
Municipality closes shops
Kuwait’s Municipality has closed 175 shops in the Capital Governorate in April for violating coronavirus precautionary measures.
Municipality inspection teams issued 352 violations and had stumbled across 140,075 commercial establishments, including cafes, hair salons, restaurants, convenience stores, supermarkets and livestock and fish markets.
The efforts are being carried out in compliance with the Cabinet and the Ministry of Health decisions, read a statement.
The municipality’s general cleaning and road works department sanitised and sterilized 52,560 containers.
It has also placed notices on 2,004 neglected vehicles and impounded another 95, in addition to the issuance of 80 violations on public cleanliness and waste transportation regulations.
Street vendors were handed 37 violations and 91 warnings, while shops were handed 92 violations.
Meanwhile, 13 notices for violations were issued to various real estate properties.
Guard runs Nuzha co-op
The National Guard have taken task of running Al-Nuzha cooperative store to ensure work continuity after its closure due to infections with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The National Guard said in a statement the personnel took charge of operating Al-Nuzha store after succeeding in managing branches of Al-Khaldiyah and Al-Mahboula cooperative societies.
Brigadier Riad Mohammad Tawari, the Guard Assistant for Financial Affairs and Resource Management, said the squad would manage and operate the store to secure basic needs and commodities for the district residents.
Customers can shop by using the telephone, the barcode system and the wesbsite. They will be able to get the purchased items at the parking lot. The bought goods can also be delivered at houses of the elderly and the incapable.
A team of the Guard chemical and radiation monitoring center has already sanitized Al-Nuzha shopping store.
Al-Nuzha district, situated in Al-Assima Governorate in the heart of the capital, is populated by some 10,000 people.
Economy seen co-existing
A report published by AlQabas daily about the return of normal life but with strict health controls has received positive feedback from the economic circles, all of which confirmed the logical solutions presented in the report and its responsible role in ensuring cohesion of sectors and preventing their collapse, as well as fully adhering to the requirements, health measures and social divergence, reports AlQabas daily.
The report highlighted the high costs of closures if the crisis lasts for longer, stressing that that the measures taken to cushion the economy, such as compensating the soft loans and issuing restrictive decisions, will not have any impact if the crisis continues for longer due to which it is inevitable that the community must coexist with the virus, as is the case in various countries in order for the circle of life to continue.
Head of Kuwait Economic Society (KES) Muhannad Al-Sanea said, “Not opening the economy and vital sectors can bring more harm than the coronavirus crisis itself.”
He called for “a gradual and organized return to normal life, opening of the economy, and need to coexist with the crisis in a healthy manner, like in many countries of the world”.
Al-Sanea said, “After the total lockdown ends, we hope the economy will be gradually reopened. If we do not open the
economy, this situation will certainly harm us more than the coronavirus crisis. There is no choice but to start opening the economy gradually and coexisting with the crisis in a healthy manner.”
He further said, “The coronavirus crisis has become a health crisis and a reality that we must coexist with; but this does not mean we have to close the economy. There must be a mechanism and a plan for the gradual reopening and return to normal life, taking into account the sectors that are most affected, as damage is uneven across sectors. The collapse or bankruptcy of these sectors will undoubtedly affect many others including banks, and this is what we do not wish for.”
In addition, an opinion poll conducted by “Bensirri Public Relations” on the extent the Kuwaiti companies have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that 56 percent of local companies will not be able to continue covering the fixed costs for another two months due to business disruptions and partial lockdowns in all parts of the country since March 22. This matter is definitely bound to worsen with the implementation of total lockdown from May 11.
The poll, in which 498 business owners and chief executive officers of Kuwaiti companies participated, indicated that covering the fixed costs is the biggest challenge facing their companies. About 56 percent of the companies requested flexibility in paying the rent, and 21 percent imposed unpaid leave for their employees. This measure is in contravention of the labor law but these companies were compelled to take such measures due to their current situation as well as in the absence of stimulating economic decisions. ‘Difficult to lay off expat workers’ Some oil companies have informed the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) that it is difficult to reduce the number of non-Kuwaitis who work for companies which have contracts with the oil sector at the present time because these companies are in the process of implementing huge contracts and are almost close to completion and that any change in the work structure will have severe consequences for the operation and completion of projects, reports AlAnba daily quoting top officials.
The sources stated the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation had addressed the affiliated oil companies in the middle of last week to prepare a study on the numbers of expatriate employees who can be done away with, but some companies have sent official letters to the KPC stating the difficulty in applying this clause because of the many projects implemented by the company, especially the Al-Zour refinery, clean fuel, LNG import facilities, heavy oil and others.
According to the latest statistics approved by the KPC, the number of expatriate workers according to the occupational classification of jobs is more than 3,000 – 1,260 medical specialization jobs, 1,056 engineering specialization jobs, 152 legal, financial and administrative specializations, and 500 professional and service specialization jobs.
Most of the jobs are concentrated in Kuwait Oil Company (2000 jobs), Kuwait National Petroleum Company about 800, Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) 88, the Petrochemicals Industries about 52 jobs, Kuwait Oil Tankers Company 41 jobs, Kuwait Gulf Oil Company 18, and the International Petroleum Company 4 and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) about 42 jobs.
It is noteworthy to mention the total workforce in the oil sector is 21,300, including 18,200 Kuwaitis.
According to the sources, the number of expatriates in the Kuwait Petroleum Industries Company is about 500 who have worked since the company was established almost 3 years ago, and it is difficult to reduce these numbers based on the decision of the Kuwait Petroleum
Corporation.
The source stated that that expatriate labor has been appointed in the oil sector due to the lack of national employment, as international and accredited employment agencies have been recruited to employ that labor after receiving the CVs from candidates and comparison between them in preparation for choosing the best and their wages have been determined according to the unified salary scale in the oil sector.
The sources said the rate of Kuwaitis in the Ministry of Oil is 100 percent, and the rate of Kuwaitis in the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and many of its subsidiaries exceeded the target of 90 percent as demanded by the Civil Service Commission, indicating that the oil sector worked during the last period on a replacement plan and the jobs occupied by expatriates was to ensure the workflow is not disrupted, especially in the rare technical jobs that require specialized expertise, while ensuring at the same time that these experiences train Kuwaitis in preparation for their replacement in the future.