A recent public opinion survey among Kuwaitis during the coronavirus crisis showed that the majority of respondents (65%) held the view that expatriates were the main reason behind the emergence of coronavirus in Kuwait.
In addition, over three-quarters (76%) of those surveyed felt that the government should consider deporting most of the foreigners from the country, while 39 percent said expatriates should not be given access to free treatment for COVID-19 in government-run hospitals.
In recent months there have been vociferous calls in parliament and elsewhere for the authorities to realign the skewed demographics in the country, by reducing the number of expatriates and speeding up the Kuwaitization drive in public sector jobs. With an expatriate population of 3.4 million, Kuwaitis account for only around 30 percent (1.4 million) of the country’s population of 4.8 million.
On the other hand, 21 percent of those surveyed held the view that the coronavirus is a minor influenza virus that has been over-hyped by the media, while 23 percent felt it was a plot hatched by global powers.
Nearly half of the sample population felt that the Ministry of Health is providing accurate information and 39 percent were confident that the ministry’s swab and other tests were efficient and sufficient to detect virus infections. The study also showed that nearly 45 percent of respondents felt anxious and were under severe psychological pressure due to emergence of the virus.
The study conducted by the Center for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies at Kuwait University, and supervised by Dr. Faisal Abu Salib, the Center’s director, was conducted from 1 to 8 August with a sample population of 1,002 Kuwaiti citizens.