By B Izzak and Agencies
KUWAIT: The ministry of health announced yesterday that 23 people were infected by the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours. This brings the country's tally of confirmed virus cases up to 289, the ministry's spokesperson Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said in the daily briefing. Of the new cases, 11 are Kuwaitis, 10 Indians and two Bangladeshis.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah announced the recovery of an 82-year-old woman from COVID-19, raising the country's total recoveries to 73. In addition, 216 virus patients are still receiving treatment, while 13 others are in intensive care units, including three in critical condition. The minister told KUNA that necessary lab tests and analyses had shown the recovery of the senior citizen, who will be admitted to a rehabilitation ward before being discharged from hospital in a couple of days.
Meanwhile, authorities cordoned off a building in Mahboula housing some 500 Asian workers after reports said at least three of them tested positive for the coronavirus. Images posted on social media showed police officers guarding the building with a large group of medical staff, who began testing the workers one by one. A police officer described the situation as serious and advised the laborers not to venture out of their homes, saying between 12 and 14 workers were living in a single room in the building.
The problem of expat workers contracting the coronavirus has caused serious alarm among health and security authorities and prompted lawmakers to demand a complete lockdown on some expat-dominated areas like Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Shuwaikh Industrial Area. Health authorities were alarmed when the source of the disease could not be established in a number of expat cases, which raises the possibility that there are undetected coronavirus cases among expat workers living under inhuman conditions.
Lockdowns aimed at halting the march of the coronavirus pandemic have extended worldwide as the global death toll mounts and the US outbreak continues to accelerate. Despite slivers of hope in stricken Italy, tough measures that have confined two-fifths of the globe's population to their homes are being broadened. Moscow and Lagos joined the roll call of cities around the world with empty streets, while Virginia and Maryland became the latest US states to announce stay-at-home orders, followed quickly by Washington DC, leaving three-quarters of Americans under some form of lockdown.
A US military medical ship steamed into New York, where it will relieve pressure on the city's badly stretched health system. A field hospital set up in Central Park was due to go online later yesterday. The scale and speed of the US pandemic continued to expand, with the death toll topping 3,000 out of 163,000 known infections - the highest case count for any country.
US President Donald Trump sought to reassure Americans that authorities were ramping up distribution of desperately needed equipment such as ventilators and personal protective gear. But he also offered a stark warning, saying "challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days" as he acknowledged a potential nationwide stay-at-home order. "We're sort of putting it all on the line," Trump said, likening the efforts against coronavirus to a "war."
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world is now above three-quarters of a million, with around 37,000 deaths. The toll on health systems is staggering, with medical professionals under enormous strain. "Waking up this morning I cried. I cried eating breakfast. I cried getting ready," French nurse Elise Cordier confessed on Facebook in a post that revealed the fear and anguish of those on the front line.
But, she said, once in "the hospital locker room, I dried my tears. I breathed in. I breathed out. The people in the hospital beds are crying too, and it is I who am there to dry their tears." World leaders - several of whom have been stricken or forced into isolation - are still grappling for ways to deal with a crisis that is generating economic and social shockwaves unseen since World War II.
The shutdown has already put millions out of work and forced governments to rush through huge stimulus plans. Experts in Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, said the virus would shrink output there this year by up to 5.4 percent. The World Bank warned Monday the economic fallout from the pandemic could cause Chinese growth to shudder to a halt and thrust millions of East Asians into poverty.
After weeks of a national lockdown in Italy, signs were emerging that drastic action could be slowing the spread of the disease. Even though the country's death toll grew by 812 in 24 hours to 11,591, the number of infections climbed just 4.1 percent. "The data are better but our work continues," said Giulio Gallera, the chief medical officer of Lombardy, Italy's worst-hit region. Italy was due to observe a minute's silence later Tuesday for victims of the disease.
Spain announced another 812 virus deaths in 24 hours, taking it past China, where the disease first emerged in December. Even with the US health system stretched, Trump said he was ordering some excess medical equipment be sent to Italy, France and Spain. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed "closer cooperation" and addressed plunging oil prices in a Monday call, the Kremlin said.
Putin's government was getting to grips with its own outbreak, with the Russian strongman urging residents of Moscow to respect a lockdown that has closed all non-essential shops, and left Red Square deserted. Anna, a 36-year-old web designer, said the lockdown would be hard for her and her five-year-old daughter. "But I don't want Arina to get sick," she told AFP on her way to buy bread. "So of course we will observe the quarantine."
The lockdowns are causing hardship across the world but particularly in impoverished cities in Africa and Asia. Africa's biggest city, Lagos, joined the global stay-at-home from Monday, with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordering a two-week lockdown for its 20 million people. The measures also apply to the capital Abuja. "Two weeks is too long. I don't know how we will cope," said student Abdul Rahim, 25, as he helped his sister sell food from a market stall.
Impoverished Zimbabwe also began enforcing a three-week lockdown. "They need to be fed, but there is nothing to eat," vegetable vendor Irene Ruwisi said in the township of Mbare, pointing at her four grandchildren. "How do they expect us to survive?"