The high preparedness levels for more than a year to handle the repercussion of the coronavirus pandemic has caused medical staff exhaustion, the Ministry of Health (MoH) expressed worry and a warning during the Council of Ministers meeting held on March 9, Al-Qabas daily reported. Health Minister Dr. Basil Al-Sabah stressed the necessity for taking strict measures to limit the Coronavirus spread, and pointed out that the increase in the number of infection cases in intensive care, and the rate of occupancy in hospitals indicates a need to take strict measures to limit the coronavirus spread.
The minister explained that the use of hospital beds not designated for Coronavirus patients has likely contributed to the increase in the infection rate among patients of those hospitals’ services.
Dr. Al-Sabah pointed out that the current health situation in the country due to the increase in coronavirus infections has exhausted the medical staff in the ministry, as they were forced to be highly alert and work at maximum capacity for more than a year in all health sectors in the country, and emphasized the need to vaccinate the population until the epidemic ends.
Buthaina Al-Mudhaf, Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Affairs at the Ministry of Health, gave a visual presentation on the summary of the current situation of the Covid 19 epidemic in Kuwait, which ended with the following recommendations:
● Partial curfew for 4 weeks from 5 pm till 5 am with the closure of the following activities:
● Malls and popular markets.
● Restaurants and cafes, with services limited to deliveries only.
● Friday Market – Fish Market – Sheep Market.
● Fish auctions, and any kind of auctions.
● The possibility of the aforementioned partial curfew during the weekdays, provided that a total curfew is maintained during the weekend.
● maintaining the necessary services during prohibited hours to enable delivery services, such as Co-ops, Supermarkets, centers for selling foodstuffs, and pharmacies.
● Closure of the land ports, except for “workers in the divided zone – and land freight.”
● Commitment to the workforce does not exceed 30% in government institutions and 50% in private institutions with penalties for those who do not adhere to health regulations (spacing and masks) strictly on entities and individuals.
● The buses are limited to a 30 % occupancy rate, and only two passengers for taxis.
The Ministry of Health requested that violators of the quarantine condition must face tougher deterrent measures, noting that a large proportion of them violate the procedures on a daily basis without deterrence.
The Ministry called for tightening measures to limit gatherings and in the event of a report on any gatherings and social events, especially during the grace period, the perpetrators must face harsher penalties, and to intensify the efforts of the relevant authorities for awareness campaigns on the correct behavior during the grace periods during the curfew, as well as to correct behaviour of those who tested positive and those coming in contact with them.