COVID-19 infections hit all-time high in Kuwait

Cairo: Daily COVID-19 infections have exceeded the 5,000 mark for the first time since the country’s first case of the pandemic was detected nearly two years ago, local media said.

The Health Ministry Monday said that 5,147 coronavirus cases were registered in the past 24 hours, the highest in around 23 months.

The latest cases raise the country’s tally to 470,478 amid a spike in infections in Kuwait.

The ministry also confirmed one more death, brining Kuwait’s overall related fatalities to 2,477.

Despite a spike in infections, the Kuwaiti health system is capable of “standing up “ the latest wave, Khalid Al Jarallah, the head of the Higher Advisory Committee for Tackling Coronavirus, said.

There is an upward trend in infections caused by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 in all countries, he told Al Jarida newspaper.

Meanwhile, a shipment of 40,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has arrived in Kuwait from Portugal, the paper said.

The doses will be administered as booster shots to the people who have been fully vaccinated by Oxford-AstraZeneca, it added.

As part of new precautions announced by the government to curtail the spread of the virus, all arrivals in Kuwait are now required to present a negative PCR conducted 72 hours before arrival.

The Kuwaiti government has also decided to temporarily halt all social events held at indoor places starting from January 9 until February 28.