Dubai- The Kuwait government has extended the closure of all state institutions until April 25, the Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reported on Monday.
The closure of state organisations was supposed to end this week and resume work on Sunday, April 12. The two-week extension is part of the government’s intensified efforts and precautionary measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Cabinet also extended the curfew across the country from 5pm to 6 am until further notice, as of Monday. It also placed the areas of Mahboula and Jleeb Al Shuyoukh under complete lockdown for two weeks as of Monday night.
The move comes as Kuwait reported 109 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total infections in the country to 665, including one death.
The government also announced that it would take a legal action against sponsors abusing expatriate workers, government’s spokesperson Tareq Al Mezrem told a virtual news conference following a Cabinet meeting chaired by Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah.
Al Mezrem said the Cabinet has assigned Anas Al Saleh, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, to form a team tasked with taking the necessary legal action against offending sponsors and responding appropriately to prevent abuse of expatriate labourers in the country.
The government also assigned the ministerial economic committee and an executive committee to meet with the national Assembly's office to discuss the public debt draft law amid a huge shift in domestic and external spending due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The Cabinet also approved a request by the Ministry of Health to recruit highly qualified and specialised medical teams from abroad to provide support for frontline health professionals and workers
It also issued instructions to relevant authorities to extend contracts of workers in services, maintenance, cleaning and operations.
