Cairo: Foreign domestic workers, who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, will undergo institutional quarantine upon arrival in Kuwait, according to aviation sources, as the Gulf country is easing travel restrictions.
“If allowed to return, the unvaccinated domestic workers will be subjected to 14-day institutional quarantine, in addition to showing a virus PCR testing certificate obtained 72 hours at most before arrival,” the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai quoted a source at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as saying.
A virus swab will, moreover, taken from the unvaccinated workers upon arrival at the airport and before they are quarantined at hotels booked beforehand by their sponsors, the source added.
The paper quoted well-informed DGCA sources as saying that the decision to allow return of domestic workers to Kuwait is linked to health regulations.
On Thursday, Kuwait said vaccinated expatriates can enter the country starting August 1, ending a months-long ban on their entry.
The government said that foreigners seeking to enter Kuwait must have received two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
The returnees must also provide a negative PCR test taken 72 hours prior to their arrival and will have to spend seven days in quarantine.
Kuwait has halted issuing new visas since the start of the pandemic early last year. Authorities have also barred non-Kuwaitis from entering the country since February 7. The travel restrictions have stranded thousands of expatriates abroad.
