Kuwait's Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has given the green light to mosques in some areas to reopen from Wednesday after almost three months of closure because of the novel coronavirus.
Minister Dr Fahad Al Afasi said mosques in sparsely-populated areas will receive worshippers for the five daily prayers starting with the noon prayer on Wednesday (June 10).
However, he said the weekly Friday noon sermon and prayers will only be performed at the Grand Mosque in Kuwait City and will be broadcast on official Kuwait TV.
Only the mosque’s preacher and staff will attend this prayer, the minister said.
Kuwait recorded 717 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, taking the country's infection tally to 31,848.
The country has recruited 300 Cuban doctors and nurses to tackle the pandemic, Dr Abdul Rahman Al Mutairi, assistant undersecretary for technical affairs at the ministry of health, said.
The Cuban doctors and nurses will work in intensive care wards.
On Sunday, coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia passed 100,000, the official Saudia TV channel said, amid the easing of restrictions.
The number of cases in the kingdom have reached 101,914, with 712 deaths.
The health ministry confirmed 3,045 new cases and 36 further deaths in the past 24 hours.
Official daily cases passed the 3,000 threshold for the first time on Saturday.
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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
