KUWAIT: Kuwait has forged a partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of the country's efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic, its health ministry said, citing the emergence of more contagious variants as a reason for further cooperation. "Kuwait was the first country WHO visited back when the pandemic first struck," said Dr Rehab Al-Watayan, the ministry's international relations officer, adding it was a testament to the "proximity" of bilateral ties.

On WHO's newly-opened regional office in Kuwait, the official expected the facility to serve as a catalyst for greater cooperation, which is necessary to topple the COVID pandemic, she said. On what the future has in store, the global health body's representative in Kuwait Dr Assad Hafeez said he was certain that common goals would "come to fruition," chiefly, efforts to eradicate the COVID pandemic and its newly identified strains. - KUNA