* Four new coronavirus cases as two more cases cured

* No decision on ending school year

* MoI denies death of inmate due to COVID-19

By B Izzak

KUWAIT: The government yesterday again denied any plans to
send expatriates to their home countries after a lawmaker called for “letting
expats out” to reduce pressure on medical services.

Minister of Social Affairs and Labour Mariam Al-Aqeel
reiterated that the government has not received any request from any country to
repatriate their communities from Kuwait.

MP Hamdan Al-Azemi called on the council of ministers to
resume outbound flights from Kuwait for one week to allow any expatriates
willing to do so to leave the country.

Azemi said that it's better if each country takes care of
its own citizens during this crisis, adding that Kuwait now needs to see health
and food pressures reduced.

The government had resisted calls by some MPs and activists
to reduce the number of expatriates in the country in order to reduce the
health burden in case the coronavirus spreads.

The ministry of health yesterday reported four new
coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 104, of whom seven have already been
cured after two more cases were cured yesterday.

The new cases are of an Indian man who came in contact with
an Egyptian man who tested positive a few days ago after returning from
Azerbaijan via Dubai, two cases of two Kuwaiti men returning from Britain and
the fourth of a Kuwaiti woman returning from a trip to France and Qatar.

Of the 97 cases, six are in the intensive care unit while
the rest are in stable condition.

The ministry of health's testing centers for expatriates
returning from Egypt, Syria and Lebanon yesterday made some amendments. They
first extended for another day (Sunday) for such expatriates from Farwaniya
governorate who were supposed to have finished tests yesterday, and they are
now testing people who returned only from March 1 onwards and not from February
27. The center is at the international fairgrounds in Mishref.

In the meantime, the ministry of education held a top-level
meeting yesterday and discussed whether to end the school year now in light of
the coronavirus pandemic. But no decision was reached and the matter was
referred to the council of ministers.

Kuwait on Friday cancelled Friday noon prayers and then
ordered all mosques to be shut down for the first time in a bid to prevent
gatherings that could facilitate the spread of the disease.

The measure was taken after the health minister said that
they were testing some people who came from countries 10 days ago that were not
infected and now they have become infected.

Kuwait had also declared a public holiday for two weeks and
cancelled all commercial flights.

 The interior ministry
denied that an inmate had died because of the coronavirus.