Partial curfew takes effect as assembly meets



B Izzak

KUWAIT: Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah will chair a key
meeting for the cabinet Monday and a number of important decisions are
expected, national assembly speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem said.

The speaker said he was invited to take part in the meeting
to be held in the morning. Cabinet meetings that are chaired by the Amir and in
which the assembly speaker takes part, are normally very important and take
sensitive decisions.

Ghanem, however, did not reveal the type of the decisions or
on which issues, but the meeting comes one day after the cabinet imposed a
partial 11-hour curfew from 5 pm to 4 am 
in a bid to contain gatherings.

The government had also extended the closure of its offices
until April 2 after extending school holidays for five months.

Interior Minister Anas Al-Saleh apologized for any error
that may happen during the curfew, saying this is an extraordinary situation
and urged all to cooperate with authorities.

Saleh wrote on Twitter that ministers and all authorities
are pleased to listen to such problems and resolve them.

Cooperative societies said yesterday that all supermarkets
will remain open from 8 am until 4 pm every day throughout the curfew period.
Cooperative have restricted entry to its main supermarkets to just 50 customers
at a time.

The national assembly meanwhile is scheduled to hold a brief
session tomorrow (Tuesday) to discuss and approve two draft laws related to the
coronavirus issues.

The first law stipulates tougher penalties that could reach
up to five years jail and a fine of KD. 50,000 for those who deliberately
spread the disease. The other law organizes work at courts with regards to
during of filing cases and petitions during the coronavirus-related shutdowns.

Kuwait Oil Co. meanwhile said its operations of production and
export of crude oil will not be affected by the coronavirus as production will
continue as normal.

Head of the assembly budgets committee MP Adnan Abdulsamad
said yesterday there is no need to alter spending projections for the 2020/2021
fiscal year budget as the expenditures are sufficient to account for the
coronavirus-related expenditures.

In the meantime, Minister of Education Saud Al-Harbi ordered
the ministry departments to provide expat teachers with the necessary exit
visas to be able to leave the country as soon as possible. EgyptAir has
announced operating 14 flights starting March 24 to transport Egyptian teachers
back home. Other airlines are expected to follow suit.