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Expats, who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, arrive at Kuwait international airport in Kuwait City on August 1, 2021. Image Credit: AFP

Kuwait City: Passengers arriving from London on Sunday were not allowed into the country as they failed to complete their entry procedures and register their information on their applications online.

The Civil Aviation requires all passengers to download and fill out the Kuwait Mosafer application prior to their arrival. In addition, the Ministry of Health demands all passengers to download the Shlonik application which will track their quarantine period.

All arrivals also have to show that they have been vaccinated to gain entry. Citizens and residents who got vaccinated outside of Kuwait by one of the approved vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson) need to upload their vaccine certificate on the Ministry of Health’s website for approval prior to their arrival.

There has been a heated debate on Kuwait Mosafer application in the past few weeks, as many passengers complained about the glitches and obstacles they faced while using it.

The application is used by Kuwait’s Civil Aviation to organise travel and update on health measures in place. Most notably, travellers have to input their travel details, pay for a PCR upon arrival and upload their vaccine certificate.

Many people took to social media to complain about the application, with some saying that they missed their flights because their details were not recognised on the platform.

Prior to arrival, all passengers need to show a negative PCR test result conducted no more than 72 hours before arrival.

Once in Kuwait, residents need to quarantine for one week. If people do not want to be quarantined for the whole week, they need to do a PCR test in Kuwait and once the negative result is out they can end their quarantine.

As of Sunday, residents are allowed to travel to Kuwait as long as they have two doses of an approved vaccine and have a valid residency permit.

While vaccinated residents are allowed into the country, direct travel between India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal is still banned. Passengers travelling from those countries need to be quarantined in a non-banned country for 14-days before they arrive in Kuwait.