PROSPECTS FOR GRADUAL RETURN TO NORMAL IN JULY

KUWAIT CITY, April 1: Director of the Air Transportation Department at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Abdullah Al-Rajhi revealed details of the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on passenger traffic at Kuwait International Airport during the past year, reports Al-Rai daily. He said, “The reopening of the airport will depend on the decrease in the rate of COVID-19 infections and their stability at a low rate. Even if the Ministry of Health increases the number of passengers permitted to enter, it will not do so directly, but gradually, especially since the number of passengers allowed to be transported is related to the bed capacity of the institutional quarantine centers.”

During an interview, he indicated that a total of 3.875 million passengers used the airport in 2020, which is less by 11.57 million compared to the total of 15.448 million passengers in 2019, adding that the number of flights also decreased by more than 74,000. Al-Rajhi said, “We were informed by 18 travel and tourism companies to stop activity due to the disruption of air traffic and travel as a result of the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its continuation for a long period of time. The number of companies operating at Kuwait International Airport has decreased from 52 to 47 during the summer of 2020, with the suspension of five companies operating at the airport on an occasional basis.”

He stressed that the airport cannot be accused of causing an increase in the COVID- 19 infections, as it is subject to strict precautionary health measures, adding that the infection indicators among the cases coming to the country are very low. Al-Rajhi explained that statistics revealed that the discovered cases were only about five out of 3,000 domestic workers who came to the country. They were quarantined until it was confirmed that they were cured and did not carry the virus. The authorities at the airport do not lax in implementing the health requirements.

Despite the recent spike in the number of deaths and infections with coronavirus in the country, a government official said things will start to return to normal in July, reports Al-Qabas daily. The official revealed that the country has been assured it will receive large quantities of approved vaccines, which means the companies producing anticorona vaccines will further increase supplies of their vaccines to accelerate the pace of vaccination and achieve community immunity soon. He said that vaccine supplies will be better at the end of the second quarter of this year; while the implementation of health regulations including social distancing and wearing masks will continue until the end of 2022.

Transmission
Regarding the opening of Kuwait International Airport, the official confirmed that the airport will open once the vaccination of citizens is completed as this will protect them from transmission of the virus. This coincides with the recent announcement of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that a digital travel permit showing results of Covid- 19 tests and vaccination certificates will be launched on the Apple platform in mid-April. This digital travel permit, which is currently in the testing phase, was expected to be launched at the end of March. Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali affirmed that the partial ban will continue during the next stage until the numbers of cases decrease, especially with the entry of the blessed month of Ramadan, reports Al Qabas.

Al-Ali responded to Al-Qabas’s question, saying: “One of the reasons for the increase in Coronavirus infections are gatherings, and in Ramadan gatherings will increase, and our recommendations to the Council of Ministers are to maintain the partial ban, while modifying and reducing the hours of the ban. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has meanwhile approved the list of laboratories accredited within the MUNA program – a mechanism linking external laboratories – for the verification of PCR test certificates issued to arriving passengers from five countries as follows: Spain, France, America, the United Kingdom and Jordan, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting a reliable source from Kuwait International Airport. According to the source, the accreditation of laboratories is aimed at preventing fraud or tampering results of PCR tests for travelers from the above mentioned countries; affirming that Kuwait Mosafer platform gives travelers information on the accredited laboratories and location according to cities.

Decrease
Ministry of Health (MoH) Spokesperson Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad on Wednesday announced a noticeable decrease of coronavirus infections among kuwaitis compared with previous months. Speaking at a news conference, Al- Sanad said the ratio of COVID-19 infection among kuwaitis is less than 55 percent compared with 68 percent at some times over the last few months, warning against an increase in infections among residents. Field medical swabs still indicate to a rise in the infection rate, he showed, calling for taking utmost measures of caution. Getting out of this crisis requires a common responsibility, receiving vaccination and continue abiding by preventive measures, he stressed.

Despite all challenges facing those who deal with the pandemic, there are still hopes for a better future to get out of this crisis, he affirmed. On occasion of National Doctors’ Day; on March 30, Al-Sanad expressed gratitude to all doctors and medical staff as well as all frontline workers for their efforts in facing the pandemic. He noted that the global indicators are still growing as figures have increased from 127.8 million cases to 128.8 million in two days. Earlier, Al-Sanad announced five deaths and 1,282 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking death toll to 1,313 and total infections to 232,103 in kuwait.