Cairo: Demand is high among Kuwaitis still abroad for flights home before the imminent enforcement of an institutional quarantine on all passengers, according to a local newspaper.
Kuwait has recently introduced new restrictions following an increase in the coronavirus cases. Starting from Sunday, non-Kuwaitis have been barred from entering the country for two weeks.
Starting from February 21, Kuwait will apply mandatory seven-day hotel quarantine to all passengers – citizens and foreigners - arriving in Kuwait at their expense to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Upon the end of the institutional quarantine period, passengers will have to undergo domestic quarantine for seven more days.
Al Anba newspaper Friday quoted official sources as saying that the high demand for home flights reflect fears among many Kuwaitis abroad of undergoing institutional quarantine beginning February 21.
Health workers
The sources added that the Health Ministry is worried about expansion of the hotel quarantine due to the limited number of health workers as each hotel will need a medical team.
“The quarantine application will first start with citizens, then the expatriates,” a source said. “The matter will depend on the scale of infections, the number of ICU cases and vaccination expansion,” the source added without further details.
The Health Ministry has rejected a suggestion to engage the private medical sector in handling the quarantine, arguing that those centres are not specialized in tackling COVID-19, according to the same sources.
The ministry, meanwhile, agreed to vaccinate employees of hotels accredited for the institutional quarantine, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida reported.
Secretary General of the Hotel Owners Union Mohammed Najia asked hotel managers to send as soon as possible lists of workers in reception, housekeeping and room service to receive the COVID-19 jabs.
