KUWAIT: Nurses inoculate workers against COVID-19 in Kuwait yesterday. - Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Kuwait began yesterday inoculating co-op, supermarket and mosque workers against COVID-19 through mobile clinics around the country. Local health authorities have identified imams and other mosque workers in addition to employees of co-operative societies, supermarkets and other commercial shops as the next target for vaccination ahead of the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

Health Ministry spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad had said Saturday that Kuwait would be adding seven more centers as designated sites to receive a COVID-19 shot starting yesterday, amid efforts to accelerate mass vaccinations against a local outbreak that has killed more than a thousand people. The new sites now bring the total number of such facilities nationwide to 22, said Dr Sanad, adding that preparations are in place to send "mobile teams" across the country's health zones in an effort to roll out the vaccines to the wider population.

The primary recipients of the shots will be workers at commercial establishments, including supermarkets and shops, the spokesman said, expecting the national vaccination program to gain steam through this initiative. He went on to commend healthcare workers for their efforts and sacrifices to tame the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kuwait had on Saturday reported 1,379 new coronavirus cases and 10 deaths, raising the total number of cases to 245,704 and deaths to 1,403, while the infection rate out of swabs reached 15.04 percent. Dr Sanad said 1,219 people recovered from the virus during the same period, raising the total number of recoveries to 229,846. He noted that recovery rate out of infections is 93.55 percent. The number of patients currently in ICUs stood on Saturday at 226, while the total number of patients receiving medical care reached 14,455. - KUNA