KUWAIT: Kuwait Ministry of Health put the bulk of its resources at the disposal of combating the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The ministry kept the public abreast of daily casualty tolls while, and led frontline activists in facing the virus' spread in 2020. The following are highlights of the MoH activities namely in fighting COVID-19 in 2020:

Feb 9: The Abdulrazzaq Al-Zalzala health center was opened in Dasma area. The KD 1 million facility includes eight various-specialty clinics.
Feb 16: The Ministry of Health opened a blood transfusion facility in Al-Ahmadi medical area. The five-storey facility cost around KD 7 million and was built on an area of 14,000 square meters.
Feb 24: The Health Ministry announced the first cases of COVID-19 infections of three individuals returning from Iran.

March 5: The Health Ministry announced the first recovery of COVID-19 patient in Kuwait.
March 11: The Health Ministry erected a facility in Mishref's exhibitions ground to screen COVID-19 for in the expatriate community.
March 20: Chinese medical supplies arrived in Kuwait help the country face the COVID-19 pandemic.
March 23: The Health Ministry announced the arrival of DNA-based COVID-19 screening tools, the first of its kind in the region.

April 4: The Ministry of Health declared recording the first coronavirus case. He was an Indian resident, aged 46.
April 8: Kuwait Central Blood Bank began preparing anti-COVID immunity plasma.
April 19: The Ministry of Health inaugurated "Shlonak" website for returnees to observe those subjected to lockdown and mingling.

May 16: MoH announced the death of 11 people due to COVID-19, the highest number in the year.
May 17: The MoH inaugurated rapid examination for COVID-19 at Al-Jazeera airways offices.
May 19: MoH announced the infection of 1,073 people with COVID-19, the highest number in the year.
May 30: MoH announced the death of 11 people due to COVID-19, repeating the number reached on May 16.

June 1: MoH announced the recovery of 1,513 people from COVID-19, the highest number in the year.
Aug 7: The Ministry of Health dispatched a planeload of medical supplies to Lebanon to help the country in the aftermath of the Beirut port bombing.
Nov 13: The Danish Dr Gunhild Waldemar took the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for research in Health Care for the Elderly for her researches in the treatment of Alzheimer's patients. Her honoring happened during a ceremony organized by the World Health Organization.

Nov 23: A Kuwaiti medical team at the Chest Diseases Hospital conducted cardiac catheterization for a 40-year patient, using technology employed for the first time in the whole Middle East.
Nov 24: The Ministry of Health declared that the first shipment of vaccinations against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) would arrive in the country by the year-end.
Nov 25: A Kuwaiti medical team conducted liver implanting for the first time in the country. The operation was conducted for a female citizen in her 60s at Al-Dabbous Center of Al-Adan Hospital.

Dec 10: Dasman diabetes center, a Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science (KFAS)-affiliate, won the Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashed Al-Maktoum's prize of medical science.
Dec 10: The MoH launched the online registration for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
Dec 13: The MoH issued license to use the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Dec 23: The COVID-19 trial vaccination period starts at the Kuwait Vaccination Center in Kuwait International Fairground in Mishref.
Dec 26: The COVID-19 vaccination campaign kicks off officially with the vaccine administered to health care workers. - KUNA