Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health Spokesperson Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad affirmed necessity of adhering to basic health procedures so as to confront the novel coronavirus. Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Dr Sanad confirmed that "coronavirus is still existing and its risks are high." The World Health Organization has affirmed that public health measures have been basic to combat COVID-19, he said, noting that the virus curve is on an upward trend.

Over the past days, some countries have re-imposed tightened measures, suspended varied activities, declared emergency and closed off some cities, with the aim of controlling the contagion, he noted. The ratio between total recoveries and infections hit 93.7 percent, he said, indicating that overall cases are still higher than the recoveries since the beginning of last month. He warned against a possible rise in the intensive care units cases due to continued and increasing infection cases.

Meanwhile, Dr Abdurrahman Al-Shammari, head of internal medicine department at Jahra Hospital, said there is no problem concerning the Hospital's bed capacity. Occupancy rate at wards and intensive care units is at 25 percent, he elaborated, pointing out that hospital management took all measures to accommodate any additional cases. He pointed out that gatherings and social activities have contributed to doubling the number of cases.

He urged all to stick to precautionary measures and avoid gatherings at present as well as receive vaccination as soon as possible to reach "societal immunity." Kuwait on Tuesday had announced the infections of 1,341 people, registering the highest rate since the outbreak of the pandemic, seven deaths and the recovery of 964 others over the previous 24 hours. - KUNA