Hammoud Al-Kafrawi - Kuwait

Food stores in Kuwait have turned into arenas where hundreds and sometimes thousands are crowded to buy their needs, in a race with the specific and comprehensive curfew that begins on Sunday afternoon and runs until May 30.

With news leaking out on Friday that the government planned to issue a ban on the decision, crowds and rush to the markets began, and it reached the point where shoppers stayed for more than two hours waiting lines in large markets such as Carrefour and Lulu Hypermarket, among others.

It took only hours for the Kuwaiti government to suspend certainty, and crowds became a feature everywhere in the country.

Queues on bread, and other to obtain cooking gas, and three in front of cooperative societies, and streets where traffic has almost stopped, and the matter was not without rivalry caused by the race to buy everything that affected hands after a waiting period that spanned more than 3 hours in front of some markets, despite the government's keenness to Reassuring everyone about access to food throughout the ban.

Justifications for a comprehensive ban

Returning to the decision, the government justifications appear convincing. With the completion of the evacuation plan for the stranded Kuwaitis, the government found itself facing a steady increase in the number of injuries, whether on the axis of employment or among citizens themselves.

The past five days alone recorded 2318 injuries, 526 on Tuesday, 485 on Wednesday, 278 on Thursday and 641 on Friday, while the ministry announced the registration of 415 cases on Saturday, bringing the total cases that have been confirmed since the beginning of the crisis to 7,623 cases, including 2,622 cases that have been cured.

"The comprehensive ban came too late," according to infectious disease consultant Dr. Ghanem Al-Hujailan. As for the reason for its adoption at the present time, lies in the lack of commitment of many to the partial ban since the beginning of the month of Ramadan, specifically to the point where the markets and cooperative societies were crowded, but the frequency of exchanging family visits increased by some, which makes the health authorities feel at risk in light of the doubling of the number of injured in close periods.

According to Al-Hujailan’s talk to Al-Jazeera Net, it is hoped that the total ban will contribute to curbing excessive friction between people and imposing social divergence.

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But the problem also lies in the crowd witnessed during the past hours, which is expected to lead to an increase in the number of injuries even with the commitment of shoppers to wear masks and gloves, due to "misuse and contact with the face or lack of disposal in a proper way."

The crowds do not disturb the doctors alone, as the head of the Cooperative Associations Union, Mishal al-Sayyar, stressed that the public’s handling of the ban was not professional, and that they used to purchase throughout the partial ban without problems. 

He considered that the application of the ban immediately with the arrangement of the purchase of associations through prior reservation could have avoided the markets what they witnessed during the past hours.

On the strategic inventory level, Al-Sayyar assured Al-Jazeera Net that "it is sufficient for 6 months and is improving day by day," explaining that the purchase will take place immediately after the application of the ban on two morning periods from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon, and evening from eight until one and half in the morning through "barcode" For pre-booking.

psychological reasons

On the other hand, specialists in psychology and sociology seek an excuse for the public in what happened, as they see in the unprecedented gatherings a natural reaction in light of these circumstances that the world currently lives in and the accompanying general panic.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, the Dean of the College of Social Sciences, Dr. Hammoud Al-Qashaan, outlines four reasons behind the general panic that afflicted everyone, namely: the sudden decision, the ambiguity of solutions, the psychological pressure caused by the state of impotence in facing this virus, and finally "fear for livelihood and life" .

According to al-Qushaan, the government had no alternative or other way with which to reduce the stampede and crowds, especially as we live in crisis conditions the size of the Corona epidemic.

In turn, Professor of Family Sociology at Kuwait University, Dr. Seham Al-Qabandi, saw that human behaviors are a reaction to the feelings, motivations and feelings that he has, as there is a global state of panic caused by anxiety, confusion, and fear of the unknown, which makes the human behavior different from what is expected.

Al-Qabandi adds to Al-Jazeera Net that the rush to buy goods is due to panic, fear and a sense of mistrust from the one who is coming out of the crisis in light of the ambiguity surrounding the causes of the virus and the absence of medicine so far and increasing numbers of deaths.

Al-Qabandi notes that buying in itself is a psychological defensive trick to deal with the feelings of fear that dominate some, "without losing sight of the effect of imitation and what can be described as the herd mentality and the resulting stampede on purchasing as if some commodities will disappear from existence."

This situation necessitates the existence of government interaction based on transparency and assertion that the human needs of different kinds are among the concerns of the government and decision-makers because of this effect on the level of feeling of psychological and social security, according to Al-Qabandi.