COVID-19: Kuwaitis flock to markets ahead of total curfew
Private businesses, print publications to feel the brunt of lockdown
Cairo: Kuwaitis and foreign residents Saturday queued up at food markets and petrol stations a day before a complete 20-day curfew takes effect across the country to stem the novel coronavirus.
Dozens of people showed up since the morning hours at the market in the governorate of Al Farwaniya, Kuwait’s main residential area, Al Rai newspaper reported online.
“I have not seen before in my life in Kuwait such human crowding for food,” a guard regulating access to the market said.
“Food stocks at the market are very good and adequate. We hope that customers will observe distance among themselves to avoid transmitting infection,” he told the paper.
The government has said that consumer cooperatives, food stores and gas cylinder outlets will be allowed to operate during the curfew while strictly observing health rules.
The government has reassured the public over food supplies and urged against crowding and hoarding.
“We will not allow the health crisis of the coronavirus to turn into a food crisis,” Minister of Commerce and Industry Khaled Al Al Roudhan said.
The nationwide curfew, the latest curb against the virus in Kuwait, will remain in place until May 30 including the Eid Al Fitr holiday.
The government has said all private businesses will be halted during the curfew except for those to be specified by a ministerial committee tasked with handling COVID-19 repercussions.
Around 1.7 million people, mostly expatriates, work in the private sector in Kuwait. Only essential government agencies will be allowed to work during the all-out curfew. The home delivery service will be limited to cooperative societies, food outlets and pharmacies.
As part of the curfew, distribution and delivery of print publications is suspended, with online publications to do the job.
Face-to-face media interviews will be stopped and replaced with online interviews during the curfew.
Last month, Kuwait extended a nighttime curfew and lengthened its duration to run daily from 4 pm to 8 in the morning as part of other measures aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19.
The country so far reported a total of 7,623 infections including 49 deaths.
The country's sectors of aviation, hospitality, restaurants and small-scale enterprises are believed to have been the hardest hit by the economic impact of the coronavirus.