Partial curfew takes effect as assembly meets
B Izzak
KUWAIT: Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah will chair a keymeeting for the cabinet Monday and a number of important decisions areexpected, national assembly speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem said.
The speaker said he was invited to take part in the meetingto be held in the morning. Cabinet meetings that are chaired by the Amir and inwhich the assembly speaker takes part, are normally very important and takesensitive decisions.
Ghanem, however, did not reveal the type of the decisions oron which issues, but the meeting comes one day after the cabinet imposed apartial 11-hour curfew from 5 pm to 4 am in a bid to contain gatherings.
The government had also extended the closure of its officesuntil April 2 after extending school holidays for five months.
Interior Minister Anas Al-Saleh apologized for any errorthat may happen during the curfew, saying this is an extraordinary situationand urged all to cooperate with authorities.
Saleh wrote on Twitter that ministers and all authoritiesare pleased to listen to such problems and resolve them.
Cooperative societies said yesterday that all supermarketswill remain open from 8 am until 4 pm every day throughout the curfew period.Cooperative have restricted entry to its main supermarkets to just 50 customersat a time.
The national assembly meanwhile is scheduled to hold a briefsession tomorrow (Tuesday) to discuss and approve two draft laws related to thecoronavirus issues.
The first law stipulates tougher penalties that could reachup to five years jail and a fine of KD. 50,000 for those who deliberatelyspread the disease. The other law organizes work at courts with regards toduring of filing cases and petitions during the coronavirus-related shutdowns.
Kuwait Oil Co. meanwhile said its operations of production andexport of crude oil will not be affected by the coronavirus as production willcontinue as normal.
Head of the assembly budgets committee MP Adnan Abdulsamadsaid yesterday there is no need to alter spending projections for the 2020/2021fiscal year budget as the expenditures are sufficient to account for thecoronavirus-related expenditures.
In the meantime, Minister of Education Saud Al-Harbi orderedthe ministry departments to provide expat teachers with the necessary exitvisas to be able to leave the country as soon as possible. EgyptAir hasannounced operating 14 flights starting March 24 to transport Egyptian teachersback home. Other airlines are expected to follow suit.