With the advent of a year since the first cases of the new Coronavirus (Covid-19) were discovered in Kuwait, the Cabinet rejected during its meeting last Monday the proposals of the Health Committee to impose a partial curfew during the current stage.
And the Council replaced that with a series of new decisions aimed at reducing the escalation of the number of injuries.
On February 24, 2020, the Kuwaiti health authorities announced the arrival of the virus in the country and confirmed the infection of 3 people, and since then, the country - like other countries of the world - has witnessed a series of government measures aimed primarily at curbing the spread of the disease and raising the state of awareness among citizens and residents.
A volunteer helps Kuwaitis return to their country due to the Corona pandemic last March (Reuters)
Fast action
Urgent measures included suspending studies in schools, starting from March 1, 2020, followed by disrupting government agencies' work and stopping entry of non-Kuwaitis into the country, and then suspending commercial flights to and from Kuwait, and by March 22, the authorities had begun implementing a ban Partial nationwide tour.
According to the consultant of infectious diseases, Dr. Ghanem Al-Hujailan, government moves at the beginning of the crisis preceded many countries, and represented a strong and rapid reaction commensurate with the nature of the event the world is facing, "but the dilemma was represented by the indolence of some and the insistence of many on the continuation of social customs at their pace, especially family visits."
Al-Hujailan added - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that "the concerted efforts and the establishment of a large number of quarantine centers at the beginning of the crisis and the Ministry of Health's keenness to hold a daily conference, all of which were positive things in dealing with the crisis."
On April 4, the country recorded the first death of an Indian resident, and the rate of injuries began to increase, as on the 29th of the same month, 300 cases were recorded.
Expatriates working in Kuwait awaiting examination to obtain a certificate proving that they are not infected with Coronavirus (Reuters)
Injuries and mobilization
By May 10, 2020, injuries exceeded a thousand injuries per day, bringing the total only two days later to 10,000, and the same rate continued until the number of injuries began to decline since the beginning of September.
Throughout December - which was held in the beginning of the parliamentary elections nationwide, while the last days of it witnessed the arrival of the first batch of the "PFIZER" vaccine (PFIZER) - Kuwait began a new phase of the war on the virus.
With the beginning of February, the daily infection rate increased significantly, as it recorded a thousand cases on the ninth day, a record that the country had not known since May 2020, which prompted the health authorities, which immediately began to escalate their precautionary measures.
And the matter came to reducing the number of employees in government agencies to less than 30% again instead of 50% as was the case, as well as returning to stopping many economic and commercial activities in the country.
In total, as of Monday, February 22, the country recorded 184,989 injuries, while recoveries reached 173,182 cases, while the deaths reached 1,049 cases, and one million, 738,555 swabs were taken nationwide.
Kuwait maintained the implementation of the precautionary measures during the elections (Al-Jazeera)
Deal and Ratings
According to the orthopedic doctor, Dr. Mansour Sadeghi, the response to the pandemic was at the level of the event from the beginning, which kept the country's health system protected from collapse, compared to other countries more advanced than Kuwait.
In his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Sadeghi compares the situation in Kuwait with France, through his work throughout the crisis at Saint Joseph Hospital in the capital, Paris, before returning recently to Kuwait.
He indicates that the total number of deaths in Kuwait so far has reached about a thousand cases, while the deaths in the capital Paris during the month of April / April reached a thousand cases per day, and at its peak reached 1,400 deaths per day. In total, out of every million people in Kuwait there are 250 deaths compared to 1,250 in France.
However, the success in facing the crisis was not disturbed - according to Sadiqi - except for schools remaining closed and children staying at home for about 7 months without any kind of education, while studies continued in other countries less than Kuwait.
The Kuwaiti authorities have taken a set of measures to limit the spread of the virus (Al-Jazeera)
Return to study
The educational expert, Dr.Dana Al-Mashaan, agrees with the views calling for the return of the study again after a full year of stopping, criticizing the survival of Kuwait among a few countries in this regard, while other countries - some of them more advanced and some less - in which the study has returned.
Al-Mashaan - who holds a doctorate in educational policy and planning - is active in the "Education First" campaign, which managed to collect about 5,000 signatures from parents to return to school again.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, she points out that all studies confirm that the infection rate among students from kindergarten to the eighth grade - if precautionary measures are taken - is less than 1%, while the infection rates in some gatherings such as offices, weddings and parties reach about 75 %.
Al-Mashaan goes on to say that opening the way for the return of studies in schools ready for that step is safer, compared to their going with parents to complexes and other crowded places.