By Nawara Fattahova
KUWAIT: Kuwait has added 33 countries to the list of 35 high-risk coronavirus countries, taking the total to 68 countries where COVID-19 is considered to be widespread. Yousef Al-Fouzan, Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, confirmed this new list to Kuwait Times, saying Kuwaitis arriving from these countries will spend seven days in institutional quarantine, followed by seven days of home quarantine. "After lifting the ban on foreigner's entry to Kuwait, passengers from these countries will have to spend 14 days in institutional quarantine," he told Kuwait Times.
These 33 new countries are Angola, Bolivia, Botswana, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Eswatini, French Guiana, Germany, Guyana, Ireland, Japan, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Paraguay, Portugal, Seychelles, South Africa, Surinam, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
This decision was based on the evaluation of the global pandemic situation and the high number of new COVID-19 cases and new variant strains of the virus in many countries, in addition to the pandemic situation in Kuwait and the increasing numbers of cases here. In order to protect general health, the health ministry recommended adding these 33 countries to the list.
Thirty-five other nations have been listed as high-risk. Passengers arriving from these countries have to spend 14 days in a country that is not on this list and then come to Kuwait and spend 14 more days in quarantine. The 35 countries are Afghanistan, Argentina, Armenia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Nepal, North Macedonia, Panama, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Serbia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Syria, Yemen and United Kingdom.