Kuwait City: After being closed for around 15 months, the Kuwaiti based cinema Cinescape announced it will be opening its doors again during the Eid Al Fitr holiday next week.
The cinema stated that only those who are vaccinated are allowed entry, pointing out that either both doses or just one jab of the COVID-19 vaccine will suffice.
No vaccine, no travel
Kuwait’s Cabinet of Ministers issued a decision on Monday that starting on May 22 all Kuwaitis, their first degree relatives and domestic workers are barred from travelling out of Kuwait unless they are vaccinated.
Those who are permitted to travel are the following: (i) those who have got both doses and two weeks have passed since the second dose; (ii) those who have got one dose and five weeks have passed; and (iii) those who have got the first dose then got COVID-19 can travel two weeks after testing positive.
Children who are unable to take the vaccine due to their age are exempt from the decision.
The announcement also reiterated that non-Kuwaitis are still banned from entering Kuwait until further notice.
After Kuwait closed its land and sea borders on February 22, it is now reopened for: (i) citizens who own land in the GCC; (ii) expats who want to exit Kuwait; and (iii) citizens who have livestock.
Vaccine shortage
The decision was issued hours after Kuwait’s Ministry of Health stated that it will be postponing the second dose of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine amidst a worldwide shortage.
The second dose of Pfizer vaccine will be given six weeks after the first one, except for those who are above the age of 60, who will continue to receive it after 21 days.
As for the Oxford vaccine, the second dose will be given between three to four months after the first one, instead of 12 weeks after the first dose.
According to Kuwait’s Ministry of Health more than one million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered so far, with around 27 per cent of the population receiving at least one jab.
