Cairo: The Kuwaiti government will treat as martyrs the workers who have lost their lives while battling COVID-19, the official news agency KUNA has reported.
“The Cabinet has decided to regard the Kuwaiti workers on the front lines or support services in the governmental bodies in combating the new coronavirus, who were infected and died during work, as martyrs of duty,” the Undersecretary of Civil Service Badr Al Hamad said, according to KUNA. The designation makes families of those dead workers eligible for financial and moral treatment related to security personnel martyrs.
Al Hamad explained that workers engaged in battling COVID-19 over the period from February 24 to May 31 will be divided in three categories: the high-risk category covers health and interior ministries’ workers; the second covers government employees who have since done their jobs; and third is related to government employees tasked with doing jobs other than theirs during the curfew in the country.
The three categories are divided into high-risk, medium-risk and low risk, he added.
Workers who have contracted the virus will have the privilege of either getting double their monthly pay or a bonus of 8,000 dinars for one time, according to the official.
Ministries will be addressed to send lists of the names of workers to the Civil Service Department according to the aforementioned categories, he said.
As part of appreciation, each worker engaged in fighting or handling the COVID-19 crisis will be decorated with a special medal, dubbed the Order of Kuwait for Coronavirus Combat, KUNA reported.
