KUWAIT, April 27 (KUNA) -- The Kuwaiti Cabinet held an extraordinary session at Seif Palace on Monday under chairmanship of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah -- during which the ministers approved reopening some car businesses.

Following the session, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh said it kicked off with His Highness the Prime Minister extending congratulations to His Highness the Amir, His Highness the Crown Prince and the gracious people of Kuwait on advent of the holy month of Ramadan.

Minister of Health and head of the team tasked with following up on spread of the novel coronavirus, Sheikh Dr. Basel Humoud Al-Sabah, briefed the ministers about latest developments related to spread of the virus globally, based on data and statistics of the World Health Organization. He also informed his peers about tallies of the infections and deaths in Kuwait, where it has been observed that tracing and mingling cases have increased.
The ministers followed up on developments with respect of treatment, prevention and logistics related to the virus, examining recommendations by the ministerial panel tasked with following up on the contagion.
The cabinet decided to task Kuwait Municipality to allow some resume some activities related to repair of cars and trade in auto spare parts, according to terms to be specified by the municipality, advised the ministries of health, information, municipality, Public Authority for Industry, Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fisheries, Environment Public Authority, Public Authority for Food and Nutrition to have personnel present 24 hours at border exits to speed up entry of imported commodities.

Moreover, the cabinet tasked Ministry of Finance to secure a sufficient number of quarantines, some 3,000, to accommodate citizens coming back from abroad as part of the evacuation operation, in addition to specializing some hotels for medical purposes.

In response to His Highness the Amir desire not to neglect economic fallouts and negative effects resulting from the fight against the coronavirus and for sake tapering burdens on the citizens, the ministers discussed a request by the ministry of finance to examine delay of monthly installments for clients of the fund of defaulting citizens and the family fund due to extraordinary circumstances resulting from the coronavirus spread.

In this regard, the cabinet decided to postpone collection of monthly dues for clients of the two funds for six months as of April, also tasking the minister of finance to coordinate with the legislations department to draw up a relevant bill.

The cabinet welcomed the declaration by the coalition for supporting the legitimacy in Yemen, renewing a call for full ceasefire for a month as of April 23, in line with a call in this respect by the United nations.