KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Manpower said its inspectors registered several violations of the coronavirus safety procedures in markets and stores in the industrial area of Al-Rai on Thursday. In a press statement, head of the inspection team Fatma Al-Julaibi said the violations included not wearing masks or putting markers on the floor for social distancing. She added that the team made about 46,000 visits to different locations from June 30, 2020 to February 26, 2021, issuing 12,410 warnings and fining 80 places.

The women team also went on 28,000 visits, issuing 4,400 warnings to avoid a fine, fining 444 places and shutting four others. Meanwhile, judicial officer at the authority Saqer Al-Otaibi said the teams also inspected the markets' commitment to providing hand sanitizers and checking visitors and workers' temperature.

Kuwait had on Friday reported 1,233 new coronavirus infections, raising the total to 234,754, while eight more fatalities upped its death toll from the outbreak to 1,327, the health ministry said. Some 1,384 people had recovered from the virus over the same period to take the total to 219,257, according to ministry spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad. He added that the number of people hospitalized with the virus stood Friday at 14,170, with 241 of them needing critical care.

He revealed that some 9,450 swab tests were conducted over the same period, bringing the total to 2,075,498, while the positive case to test ratio was 13 percent. He went on to urge the public to abide by health precautions, mainly following social distancing rules, in order to halt the spread of the virus. - KUNA