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By Abdellatif Sharaa
Sunday, Kuwait emerged out of curfew - be it total or partial. We all know that restrictions, curfews, businesses shutting down, government departments stopping work and employees given leaves was to absorb the first wave of attacks of the coronavirus, to be later officially named by the World Health Organization as COVID-19. Experts and the public alike were still attempting to understand this virus and its strategy of survival and the ability to spread all over the globe. We first heard about it in China, and China is far away, so we believed we were on the safe side of things - how wrong was that.
Anyhow, it did not take long for the government to prepare and take measures to control the situation, and we started hearing about something called social distancing, wearing a facemask, using sanitizers, wearing gloves and so on. We the people must admit that we did not comply with the instructions completely at the beginning, as cases began to spring up in Kuwait, so authorities stepped in and imposed more measures, shutting down all businesses except food and other absolutely necessary requirements accessed by an appointment system.
The famous request by health authorities was "stay home unless it is a must to leave," along with warnings about the danger of this virus, which spares no one. Many heeded the warnings and many were lax and complacent, so authorities stepped up measures, starting with partial curfews that gradually developed into a full curfew during the holy month of Ramadan, besides having certain areas totally isolated, all because of a lack of cooperation by a good number of people.
You can tell the war was fierce and the battles are still raging and the numbers are still in the red zone, bearing in mind that just one case is too much. Now, as the curfews are in the past tense, we must remember that the virus is still present, is still strong, is still fighting as hard as when it started and is still causing harm regardless of the degree. So please remain vigilant and keep wearing your masks, use your sanitizers, wash your hands more often, maintain social distancing, etc, as the war is still on!
