VIOLATORS TO BE JAILED

KUWAIT CITY, March 22, (KUNA): The government of Kuwait was compelled to impose a partial curfew due to non-compliance with the Ministry of Health’s instructions to stay indoors with the aim of curbing the spread of coronavirus, a senior official said Saturday.

Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Anas Al-Saleh told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting that an 11-hour curfew is being imposed from Sunday at 5:00 pm until 4:00 am the following day, till further notice. “Regrettably non-compliance with the Ministry of Health’s instructions to stay indoors forced the government to impose the curfew,” said Al-Saleh, also Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs. He said the Civil Defense Committee would be issuing IDs for persons working in vital sectors so they could move during the curfew.

Al-Saleh, meanwhile, said a holiday of government departments and private companies that was scheduled to end on March 26, would be extended for two more weeks.

Anyone caught breaching the curfew decided Saturday evening will be jailed for up to three years and fined KD 10,000 pursuant to Civil Defense Law, warned the interior minister.

The warning was given by Al-Saleh during a press conference held following the extraordinary Cabinet meeting. He added that the military is on standby to help security forces in putting the curfew in place, quoting the Cabinet as having tasked the National Guard with aiding the Ministry of Interior in this regard He stated that the curfew was decided as a result of non-compliance with health guidelines and instructions aimed at averting gatherings.

The minister noted that he would relieve violators of residency law of any fine so that they could leave the country immediately. For his part, Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah said a strengthened health system would undoubtedly make it easy for overseas citizens to return home at an early date.

Speaking at the press conference following the Cabinet meeting on response to the novel coronavirus, the minister reassured that his ministry had worked out a blueprint to evacuate citizens abroad. Urging everyone to take the matter seriously, the minister said the evacuation plan would give top priority to patients in critical situation, old people, minors and people with disabilities