MP session to deliberate on virus

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 14: No decision regarding partial curfew will be issued this week, but it will be discussed in the next Cabinet session, reports Al- Qabas daily quoting a highly reliable source.

The source affirmed that the Cabinet will not impose curfew in some areas now; indicating the highest percentage of corona-related deaths, intensive care unit (ICU) confinement and corona infections are currently among citizens.

Therefore, curfew will not be imposed in areas with high expatriate population, the source pointed out. The source stressed the need for everyone to strictly comply with the health regulations and to expand the vaccination program in order to curb the spread of the virus; especially after the insistence of many to hold gatherings like parties and weddings.

He warned that the health situation is in a dangerous curve and everyone must cooperate to get out of danger.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Health (MoH) registered on Sunday 798 additional COVID-19 cases over a 24-hour span, increasing the total number of infections to 177,701, while five fatalities were recorded, raising the death toll to 1,003.

Plus, active cases amounted to 10,679 with 133 of them in intensive care units, MoH’s Spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad told KUNA during the 104th regular press conference. Health authorities conducted 7,514 swab tests to a total of 1,667,920, which meant that 10.6 percent of the swab tests performed in 24 hours were infections, he revealed. Dr. Al-Sanad urged everyone in kuwait to adhere to precautionary measures against the virus and maintain social distancing. Earlier, the ministry confirmed 765 fresh recovery cases, added to a total of 166,019 cured people thus far.

Covid
panic The rising number of corona cases among employees in the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) has become a nightmare for many of their colleagues amid complaints about the increase in the number of employees and visitors in different departments as this raises fears of getting infected with the virus, reports Al- Qabas daily.

Through its official accounts on various social media websites, PAM denied the allegations that all of its employees have resumed work and that it is not committed to health regulations including the exemption of employees from reporting for work if they have health or medical conditions.

Despite the denial, several employees expressed their fear of contracting the virus due to the alleged increase in the number of staff reporting for work and the number of visitors. These employees, who requested for anonymity, confirmed the discovery of four corona cases in a service department last week and two cases in another department earlier. They attributed this to the big number of visitors which put them under pressure, considering only 50 percent of the employees are allowed to report for work.

Crisis
They explained the work system during the crisis is that the employees are either distributed throughout the week or the morning and evening shifts in order to guarantee the completion of transactions – majority of which depend on the automated system.

They also complained about the continuation of accepting visitors and paper transactions, so many employees are reporting for work in certain departments. National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim invited the MPs and interim government to a special session slated for Tuesday in response to the request of several lawmakers to hold such a session in order to deliberate on the measures that the interim government is taking to deal with various strains of coronavirus.

Al-Ghanim said he informed HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid about the session and the latter confirmed the interim government’s attendance. Meanwhile, MP Shuaib Al- Muwaizri criticized the decision of the interim government to obligate the arriving and departing citizens to book hotels for their quarantine.

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff and Agencies