KUWAIT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday urgednationals who are currently abroad to return home. In light of a statement madeearlier by Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs and Minister of Interior AnasAl-Saleh calling on citizens to abstain from travelling except for necessities,the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Kuwaiti nationals who are abroad toreturn to Kuwait. The Foreign Ministry said the call was intended to spare themhazards of infection of coronavirus and relieve them of rapid and changingprecautions for entry and departure for travelers, undertaken by states asprecautions against the virus. Saleh had urged Kuwaitis to refrain fromtraveling as part of the wide-scale government efforts in the face ofcoronavirus.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) has directed alllocal banks to take preventive measures so as to face the novel coronavirus,COVID-19, to protect employees and customers through providing sterilizationmaterials and facemasks as well as all required preventive equipment. In apress statement issued on Thursday, the bank stressed its keenness on thesafety of all workers and customers in the banking sector.
The bank also affirmed working on integration with allefforts made by all concerned bodies in Kuwait to face the virus and preventits spread, the statement noted. It asked the banks to provide all preventiveequipment, mouth-masks and sterilization materials at all locations ofautomated teller machines (ATMs), and direct all customers to use them necessarilybefore and after using the ATMs, it pointed out. All local banks must urgetheir customers to benefit from e-channels through the applications ofsmartphones or e-location to make transactions without going to braches, if notnecessary, it stated.
The banks also are asked to appeal to their customers to usebankcards instead of banknotes, according to the statement. In addition, theCBK called on the banks to write awareness messages on means of protectioninstructed by the Ministry of Health through its accounts on social media andother channels so as to target the largest segment of customers, the statementconcluded.
Kuwait’s Ministry of Health announced Thursday morning thata total of 43 people are now confirmed to be infected with the COVID-19coronavirus. All those infected are under medical care. Meanwhile, the CivilService Commission announced suspending the use of the biometric fingerprintsystem for employees access registration at all state departments startingMarch 1.
In the meantime, the education ministry said it has shiftedall finals tests for all school stages to after the Eid holiday. The teachingcurriculum will also be adjusted to accommodate the change in schedules, whilea plan to implement preventive measures against the spread of the virus inschool will be put in place at all schools, the ministry announced Thursday. Anunknown number of citizens remain in quarantine at local hotels and in theirhomes.
Kuwait has ordered its citizens leaving the country to GCCstates or coming back from there to use their passports instead of their civilIDs so that authorities can verify their transactions and make sure about theirpotential visit to countries hit by the coronavirus. This decision Kuwait'sinterior ministry announced Thursday also includes GCC nationals wishing tovisit Kuwait. However, it does not include citizens who are already in a GCCcountry and have used their IDs in their exit, nor does it include GCC citizenscurrently visiting Kuwait and who have used their IDs to enter.
In related news, Saudi Arabia has suspended entry to thecountry for the purpose of umrah and visiting the Prophet’s Mosque temporarily,suspended entry for tourist visas for those coming from countries in which thespread of the new coronavirus is a danger, and suspended use by Saudi nationalsand citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council states of the national identity cardto travel to and from the Kingdom, with a few exceptions reported the SaudiPress Agency. Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani has also announcedthat Doha will evacuate any Qatari nationals and Kuwaiti nationals remaining inIran, which has been badly hit by the virus.