The Kuwait International Airport resembled a beehive with all concerned authorities not leaving anything for chance and taking all precautionary health measures to ensure all inbound passengers arriving from all countries are free of any kind of Covid-19 variant.
This comes in implementation of the instructions issued by the Council of Ministers during its extraordinary meeting Monday.
As the country has slapped a ban on commercial flights from 9 African countries, the airport, and other land and sea ports are adopting new steps at the health and logistical levels, to prevent the entry of anyone infected with Corona virus in general, and with the mutant “Omicron” in particular.
A health official said maintaining this situation is the biggest challenge when the World Health Organization confirmed that closure is not the best solution to contain the new mutant, but said preventive measures are currently sufficient, especially in countries where the vaccination rate has increased to about 80%, such as Kuwait.
The official reiterated that the intensification of health control at the entry points would prevent the emergence of mutants in Kuwait, pointing out that the demand of citizens and residents for the third booster dose increased significantly during the past days, which enhances the societal immunity against the emerging strains.
He stated that the pressure on the health system decreased a lot, as hospital wards are devoid of Corona cases, and “zero deaths”, considering that next December is the real test against “Omicron”, indicating that the PCR examination is sufficient at the moment to detect infections.
The government has confirmed that the health conditions in the country are reassuring, and that Kuwait is so far safe from the mutant “Omicron”.
The source told Al-Qabas that the airport’s agencies continue to implement the decision to prevent entry to non-Kuwaitis coming from some African countries, whether they come directly or through other countries unless they reside outside those countries for at least 14 days.
He pointed out that the sectors have raised the degree of their health and logistical preparations to follow up the movement of arrivals to the country, explaining that there is round-the-clock communication with the health authorities to monitor the repercussions of the mutated “Omicron”.
Precautionary health measures continue to be taken to confront the mutated “Omicron”, amid regional alert and rapid spread, and the suspension of some commercial flights from some countries.
He pointed out that increasing health awareness among large segments of society plays an important role in avoiding infection by the virus saying the third dose at this time is of paramount importance for some segments, such as those with chronic diseases, immunodeficiency patients, and adults in general.
The source indicated that, according to recently published reports on the mutant, the increase in hospital admission rates in some countries in which “Omicron” appeared may be due to the increase in the total number of people infected with the virus there, and not necessarily due to the mutant, stressing the importance of continuing the PCR examinations at the outlets to detect any new infections coming to the country and take preventive measures towards them.