02/03/2020
02/03/2020
Police, doctors efforts lauded
KUWAIT CITY, March 2: Thousands of citizens have arrived in Kuwait after they were evacuated from Iran, Italy and Thailand on six Kuwait Airways flights and have been placed in quarantine either at Khairan resort or in their own homes, reports Al-Rai daily quoting sources from Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA).
They explained that samples have been taken from all the passengers who arrived from Thailand and Italy and put in quarantine. They have been granted leave from their workplaces.
On the other hand, passengers who arrived from places, from which flights have been banned by Kuwait, such as China, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq and South Korea, have been placed in quarantine immediately after they arrived at Sheikh Saad Airport and then referred to precautionary isolation in Khairan resort.
The passengers who arrived from other countries, the flights from which are not restricted, will not undergo medical examination or placed under isolation or granted sick leave. The sources revealed that some women passengers of a flight that arrived from Tehran raised objections to being referred to quarantine, eventually requiring policewomen to intervene and oblige them to abide by the precautionary procedures such as referring them to quarantine in Khairan resort.
Meanwhile, Al-Qabas daily reported that citizens who were placed in quarantine after their return to the country said their days in quarantine passed normally, and their daily lifestyle did not change except for the food and drinks.
A Kuwaiti citizen Ali Al-Sayegh elaborated his experience in quarantine with 22 individuals who arrived from Iraq last week. He said they were in Al-Najaf city in Iraq at the time when DGCA had banned flights to and from Iraq, so they booked a flight from Al-Najaf to Bahrain and then another to Kuwait. Al-Sayegh indicated that many of the passengers on the flight were ready to be put in quarantine, even if the country did not demand that from them, because of their keenness about the safety of their families and friends who will be in direct contact with them. He explained that he and a group of passengers had arrived at Kuwait International Airport on Wednesday.
When an army officer asked them about the place they came from, they replied that they came from Iraq. The officer then indicated that the exit procedures will be easy. However, Al-Seyagh was surprised that they were taken to the hospital. When they arrived at the hospital and entered gate No. 5, they found nurses and doctors waiting for them at the reception. However, the procedures were very long, and the quarantined individuals saw the officials were confused.
All the passengers were then brought together at one location even though they came from different locations such as Iran, Iraq and Italy without any consideration of the level of epidemic in those countries. Al-Sayegh wondered how the passengers who came from countries with low level of coronavirus infection were treated the same as those who came from countries with high infection level. He reiterated that the quarantined individuals are spending their days normally while in quarantine, as they can walk, talk and use their mobile phones, and the hospital provides them with meals throughout the day.
However, a matter that Al-Sayegh considered strange was that the quarantined individuals are allowed to deal with each other, and some families are allowed to visit those suspected of being infected by coronavirus in order to give them clothes. In conclusion, Al-Sayegh praised the efforts exerted by the police, security officials, and doctors, affirming they are performing their work sincerely and seriously.