Kuwait goes back to work as COVID cases decline

Kuwait goes back to work as COVID cases decline

KUWAIT: Government departments yesterday witnessed a return to official working hours with 100 percent employee capacity, a year and a half after the coronavirus outbreak prompted authorities to reduce the number of civil servants showing up to work as a precautionary measure against COVID-19. Employee turnout was gradually upped as measures were eased after indicators showed dwindling numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths amid an intensive national campaign to immunize as many people as possible. It is expected that 70 percent of people in Kuwait will be vaccinated by the end of summer.

Only 306 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Kuwait in the past 24 hours, taking total cases to 406,540, while three more fatalities took the death toll to 2,389, the health ministry said yesterday. Official ministry spokesperson Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said 606 more people recovered from the virus, taking total recoveries to 397,247.

The number of people hospitalized with the virus currently stands at 446, of whom 205 are in intensive care units, in addition to 6,904 active cases, he said. Some 10,757 swab tests were conducted over the past day, taking total tests to almost 3.6 million, Dr Sanad added, saying the positive case-to-swab test ratio stands at