Kuwait tightens Covid-19 rules with ban on indoor gatherings

Ministry of Health says daily reported cases has 'doubled' in past 10 days

A Kuwaiti national, residing abroad, shows the tracking bracelet provided by authorities as she leaves at the Kuwait International airport in the capital upon her return as part of a repatriation plan on April 19, 2020, and ahead of being taken to mandatory home quarantine. AFP

Press photographers wearing protictive masks attend a parliament session at Kuwait's national assembly in Kuwait City on March 24, 2020. AFP

Kuwaiti boys wearing protective face masks and quarantine tracking bracelets, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), pose for the camera as they hold up their passports upon arrival from Amman, to Kuwait Airport in Kuwait, Kuwait April 21, 2020. REUTERS

Hand out photo released by KUNA on April 28, 2020, shows Kuwait's Health Minister Sheikh Basil al-Sabah (C), as he receives members of a Chinese health delegation visiting Kuwait to exchange experiences on strategies, plans, and procedures to contain COVID-19 coronavirus disease. AFP

An airport staff member wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) stands at entrance of the Kuwait International Airport, in Kuwait city, Kuwait, 25 April 2020, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Kuwait is repatriating its citizens from abroad, the country's national aviation authority announced. EPA

Children continue their school curriculum online via a computer screen at their home in Kuwait City on March 23, 2020. AFP

Members of Kuwait's national guard wearing safety masks keep watch outside a hotel in the capital where Kuwaitis returning from Iran are quarantined and tested for coronavirus COVID-19, on February 24, 2020. Kuwait confirmed three cases who tested positive for coronavirus, a 53-year-old Kuwaiti man, a 61-year-old Saudi citizen, and a 21-year-old stateless Arab (Bidoon), after returning from Iran's holy city of Mashhad. AFP

Students watch an instructional video on Coronavirus infection at a school in Kuwait City on February 10, 2020. AFP

A Kuwaiti trader wearing a protective mask follows the market at the Boursa Kuwait stock exchange in Kuwait City on March 1, 2020. Boursa Kuwait decided to close the main trading hall due to the COVID-19 coronavirus disease developments. Stock markets in the oil-rich Gulf states plunged on March 1 over fears of the impact of the coronavirus, which also battered global bourses last week. All of the seven exchanges in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which were closed the previous two days for the Muslim weekend, were hit as oil prices dropped below $50 a barrel. The region's slide was led by Kuwait Boursa, where the All-Share Index fell 10 percent, triggering its closure. Kuwait's bourse was closed for most of last week for national holidays. AFP

Expatriate returning from Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon arrive to be re-tested at a Kuwaiti health ministry containment and screening zone for COVID-19 coronavirus disease in Kuwait City on March 16, 2020. AFP

Kuwaiti health minister Sheikh Basel al-Sabah (R) speaks to the press at Sheikh Saad Airport in Kuwait City, on February 22, 2020, as Kuwaitis returning from Iran wait before being taken to a hospital to be tested for coronavirus. - Iran ordered the closure of schools, universities and cultural centres after a coronavirus outbreak that has killed five people in the Islamic republic, the most outside the Far East. AFP

Kuwaiti health ministry workers scan employees and visitors of the ministries complex, as they arrive to their work, in Kuwait City on March 4, 2020. AFP

Muslim men wearing protective masks perform Friday prayers at a mosque in Kuwait City on February 28, 2020. - Kuwait's Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs set the Friday prayer sermon to not exceed 10 minutes, and to discuss precautions against COVID-19 coronavirus disease infections. Kuwait has recorded 43 coronavirus cases since its outbreak, the United Arab Emirates reported 13, while Bahrain has 33, and Oman is at four cases. Government institutions in the gulf country suspended the use of fingerprint recognition to clock in and out. AFP

Live updates: follow the latest news on Covid-19 variant Omicron

Kuwait‘s Cabinet has banned indoor gatherings from January 9 until February 28 over concerns about the rapid spread of coronavirus.

Under tighter Covid-19 restrictions, as of Tuesday, incoming travellers will be required to show a negative PCR test result taken not more than 72 hours before arriving in the country, state news agency Kuna reported.

The government also urged residents to obtain booster vaccine doses “to prevent a third wave of the pandemic”, Kuna said.

Kuwait‘s Ministry of Health said that the number of daily reported Covid-19 cases has ”doubled” over the past 10 days.

“For indicators to remain under control, continuous co-operations, awareness and care are required,” it said in a tweet.

More than 85 per cent of Kuwait’s population, or 3.2 million people, received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, the Health Ministry’s latest figures show.

The Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson vaccines are among the approved inoculations in the country.

In recent days, Kuwait’s embassies in the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ukraine and France have issued warnings for citizens to leave these countries and return home amid fears of a surge in the new Omicron strain of the virus and further travel restrictions.

Kuwait is also facing a bout of unstable weather that has prompted the government to warn people to remain indoors.

The Kuwait Meteorological Department said visibility would improve today but heavy winds and low temperatures are expected to continue.

Qatar hospitals overcrowded

Social media personality Mohammed Al Dosari sparked public debate about health care in Qatar after describing the overcrowded hospital he took his sick child to.

”There’s like 60 thousand children in there,” Mr Al Dosari said to his 830 thousand Instagram followers.

He said people were at greater risk of catching the virus under those conditions and appealed the Minister of Health to take steps to reduce crowding.

People on social media have complained of long queues at screening centres and delays in receiving results, even for rapid tests.

The daily number of cases have surpassed the 1,100 mark, the highest since the country experienced its first wave in mid-2020.

Qatar’s state-owned non-profit Hamad Medical Corporation encouraged people to use its home delivery service for medicines rather than leave the house.

Israel to admit foreigners

Israel said it will admit foreigners with presumed Covid-19 immunity from medium-risk countries as of January 9, relaxing a ban imposed in late November.

On Monday, the health ministry said travellers from 199 countries designated “orange”, including Australia, Italy and Ireland, would be allowed to enter if they could prove in advance they had been vaccinated or had recovered from Covid-19.

They will be subject to PCR testing before and after arrival.

Coronavirus pandemic around the world - in pictures

A young woman receives a Pfizer jab in Diepsloot Township near Johannesburg, South Africa. AP Photo

A girl wearing a face mask rides on a merry-go-round at the Christmas market in Frankfurt, Germany. AP Photo

People travel on a London underground tube train on the Jubilee Line, in London, during the pandemic. AP Photo

People wait for the tram in Vienna, Austria, amid the crisis. AP Photo

A woman passes by an empty terrace in the Marrolles quarter in Brussels, Belgium. AP Photo

A teacher gives online lessons via webcam at the temporarily closed elementary school in the town of Trebisov, eastern Slovakia. TASR via AP

Hairdressers and clients wear masks in Amsterdam, Netherlands. AFP

A man disinfects seats for tourists at a beach in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia. EPA

Israeli boy Itamar, 5, receives a dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the Meuhedet Healthcare Services Organisation in Tel Aviv. AFP

A patient suffering from Covid-19 is admitted in the intensive care unit of the Basaksehir Cam and Sakura City Hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. Reuters

A health worker prepares to administer the AstraZeneca jab in Abuja, Nigeria. AFP

The health ministry has also recommended that South Africa, Nigeria, Spain, Portugal, France and Canada, currently among 16 countries listed as “red” or high risk for Covid-19, be downgraded to “orange”.

Israel is offering a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people aged 60 and over, and is the first country in the world to widely offer the extra shot to fight off Omicron.

The fourth dose will also be made available to medical staff who had their last vaccine shot at least four months ago, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday.

Last week, Israel approved the extra shot for people who are immunocompromised, nursing home residents or patients on geriatric wards.