KUWAIT: Kuwait yesterday reported 514 COVID-19 positive cases from 8,336 swab tests, compared to 658 from 11,338 tests on Friday, whereas one coronavirus-related death was reported in the past two days, Ministry of Health figures have shown. As such, total cases have climbed to 164,622 while deaths reached 959 as of yesterday. Meanwhile, the total number of recoveries reached 157,404 as the ministry reported 501 new recoveries yesterday and 516 on Friday.

The number of people hospitalized with the virus stood yesterday at 6,259, down from 6,247 a day before, with 52 of them in intensive care units compared to 49 on Friday, according to ministry spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad. The total number of swab tests conducted in Kuwait reached 1,520,587. Dr Sanad urged the public to abide by health precautions, mainly social distancing to help limit the spread of the virus.

GCC cooperation

In other news, Kuwait's Minister of Health Dr Sheikh Basel Al-Sabah took part in an extraordinary virtual meeting of the GCC Health Ministers' Committee to study health resolutions of the 41st summit of the GCC Supreme Council. The minister lauded the GCC Secretariat's efforts led by Secretary General Nayef Al-Hajraf to prove the meeting successful, the Ministry of Health said in a press statement.

Sheikh Basel expressed his full contentment about coordination and cooperation among health sectors of the GCC states, particularly in sharing the best-practiced policies and programs. He also extolled sincere and distinguished efforts by health workers, military, security and civil defense personnel and volunteers to combat the novel coronavirus.

The conferees mulled resolutions of the Supreme Council, the Al-Ula statement and the final communique of the recently-held Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad and Sultan Qaboos's GCC Summit, it noted. They also discussed the framework of the GCC public health emergency, preparedness and response plan. They considered boosting mutual coordination and emergency early warning systems, according to the statement.

Following the meeting, the ministers stressed the importance of unifying and coordinating stances regarding international and regional health cooperation. The meeting touched upon mechanism of implementing the Supreme Council's resolutions, a news conference said after the meeting. The resolutions issued on health field included approving the GCC public health plan to respond to emergencies, the emergency early warning system and the establishment of the Gulf center for disease prevention and control, it pointed out. - KUNA