Kuwait City: Kuwait’s Ministry of Health announced it had recorded 18 COVID-19 related deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest number of deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Out of the 18 people who passed away, 17 were unvaccinated and the other one had received the first jab of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Occupancy in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) also has hit a peak, with 288 COVID_19 patients undergoing treatment in the ICU, the highest occupancy since the start of the pandemic.
The Ministry of Health reported 1,718 new cases in the past 24 hour hours, around 33 per cent of all cases were recorded in the Al Ahmadi governorate.
Spike in cases
In the past few weeks, Kuwait has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases, related deaths and ICU patients.
Last week, it recorded 1,935 new cases in 24 hours, the highest number of COVID-19 cases in a single day since the pandemic began back in March 2020.
According to statistics issued by the Ministry of Health on Sunday, there has been a 37 per cent increase in COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital compared to the beginning of the month. As for ICU patients, occupancy increased by 47 per cent in the past month.
Importance of vaccine
The official spokesman of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdullah Al Sanad, said in a tweet on Tuesday that out of the 1,004 COVID-19 patients hospitalised, 95 per cent are unvaccinated. As for the 288 patients undergoing treatment in the ICU, Al Sanad revealed that 93.5 per cent of them have not yet received a single dose of the vaccine.
Al Sanad said in the tweet, “Completing the vaccination is the best way to prevent and protect yourself and those around you.”
Delta variant
On June 14, Al Sanad announced that Kuwait had detected a number of cases of the COVID-19 delta variant.
The Delta variant, which first emerged in India in February, is said to be more transmissible and has been detected in more than 85 countries around the world. In early May, the World Health Organisation (WHO) designated the delta variant as a variant of concern.
