Kuwait pledges $100m for global efforts against COVID-19

Cairo: Kuwait has pledged a total of 100 million dollars to support global efforts against the novel coronavirus, the country's Foreign Minister Ahmed Al-Nasser has said.

The figure includes 60 million dollars for the World Health Organisation and 40 million for the European Union, the minister told a virtual conference of donors for an anti-COVID 19 vaccine.

Al-Nasser called the coronavirus pandemic a "trans-border and continental" peril. "We have seen it killing large numbers of people in several countries. The pandemic has not made a difference in its spread between advanced and developing countries, or between poor and rich countries," the official said.

"Experience of confronting that virus has emphasised the pressing need to devote collective, joint work and unify efforts and visions to overcome it," he added.

Kuwait so far has recorded a total of 44,942 virus infections and 348 resultant deaths.

Starting from Tuesday, Kuwait will embark on the second phase of a stepwise plan to bring life to normal. According to Phase 2, a nationwide nighttime curfew will be reduced by one hour to run daily from 8pm until 5am for three weeks. Government employees will return to work with a maximum capacity of 30 per cent after a three-month hiatus.

The second phase was originally scheduled to begin on June 21, but was delayed due to an increase in virus incidence rates