20 New Cases of Coronavirus in Kuwait; All Cafes Shuttered
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SHAABAN 6, 1441 AH MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2020 20 Pages Max 29º Min 18º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18093 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Rumors in coronavirus time hurts N Korea fires 2 short-range Nextdoor, network for neighbors, Hunger games? Tennis foot 2 society’s morale, state’s efforts 8 ‘ballistic missiles’ into sea 9 grows in age of social distancing 20 soldiers struggle in time of virus 20 new cases of coronavirus in Kuwait; all cafes shuttered Ban on cemetery visits, restrictions on funerals • No cases at Central Prison By A Sakeh tion) and three Bangladeshis in contact with another Ahmad Al-Manfouhi announced on Saturday the allowed to be present, in line with directions by the Bangladeshi (under epidemiological investigation as closure of cafes everywhere in Kuwait. The decision health ministry. Moreover, the municipality has set KUWAIT: The health ministry yesterday confirmed well). He pointed out to the concentration of a num- is applied to cafes in markets, shopping malls, fuel the burial time from 8:00 am until 3:00 pm, adding 20 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, ber of cases resulting from contact with infected stations and rest stations on highways. However, the body must be buried immediately. bringing the total number of cases in Kuwait to 255. cases in Mahboula, Industrial Shuwaikh, and some they are allowed to continue delivery services from The interior ministry also categorically denied The ministry’s spokesperson Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad commercial areas of the capital. 5 am until 5 pm, when the daily partial curfew goes reports circulating on social media about coron- said at the ministry’s daily press conference that Health Minister Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah earlier into effect. Manfouhi affirmed that the decision is avirus cases among prisoners at the Central Prison. seven cases - six Kuwaitis and one Filipino - are announced the recovery of three new cases, bring- part of precautionary and preventive measures that The ministry’s public relations and information related to travel to the UK. ing the total of those who have recovered to 67. have been taken by the municipality to stem the department said in a statement that the directorate Sanad added that the 13 other cases include a Twelve cases are in intensive care - three critical spread of the novel coronavirus. general for correctional institutions and execution Kuwaiti in contact with another Kuwaiti who had and nine stable - out of 188 cases in hospital, while The director general of funeral affairs Faisal Al- of verdicts has affirmed that all preventive and pre- traveled to Saudi Arabia, nine Indians in contact 910 persons completed the quarantine period. Awadhi announced a ban on visits to cemeteries. As cautionary measures have been taken to ensure with three Indians (under epidemiological investiga- Meanwhile, Municipality Director General for funerals, only relatives of the deceased are inmates’ health. First virus death Wealth funds seen in Qatar; Europe, shedding up to US deaths surge $225bn in stocks DOHA/MADRID: Qatar recorded its first death from the new coronavirus on Saturday, while con- LONDON: Sovereign wealth funds from oil- firmed infections rose by 28 to 590, the health min- producing countries mainly in the Middle East istry said. A “57-year-old Bangladeshi national resi- and Africa are on course to dump up to $225 bil- dent (in Qatar)... suffering from chronic diseases” lion in equities, a senior banker estimates, as died from the COVID-19 respiratory disease, the plummeting oil prices and the coronavirus pan- ministry said on Twitter. demic hit state finances. The rapid spread of the The majority of the cases in Qatar are among virus has ravaged the global economy, sending migrant laborers, where foreigners make up most of markets into a tailspin and costing both oil and the workforce. Qatar said on Saturday it was quar- non-oil based sovereign wealth funds around $1 antining 31 Bahrainis who travelled from Iran to trillion in equity losses, according to JPMorgan Doha on Friday. They cannot go directly to Bahrain, strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou. one of four states boycotting Qatar since mid-2017 His estimates are based on data from sover- due to a political dispute. Qatar’s Government eign wealth funds and figures from the Sovereign Communications Office said that Doha offered to Wealth Fund Institute, a research group. Sticking return them home on a private charter flight. with equity investments and risking more losses “The government of Bahrain declined this option. is not an option for some funds from oil produc- Bahraini officials have said they will send a flight for ing nations. Their governments are facing a finan- them at some undefined point in the future,” it said cial double-whammy - falling revenues due to in a statement, adding that Qatari authorities had DUBAI: Municipal workers disinfect the streets of Palm Island as a preventive measure against the spread Continued on Page 16 tested the group for the virus. Continued on Page 16 of the novel coronavirus on Saturday. — AFP September to halt attacks on the kingdom for a ceasefire to protect civilians from the Saudi intercepts after devastating twin strikes on Saudi oil coronavirus pandemic. Saudi Arabia, the installations. “Two ballistic missiles were Yemeni government and the rebels all wel- launched towards the cities of Riyadh and comed an appeal from UN Secretary missiles over Jizan,” the official Saudi Press Agency General Antonio Guterres for an “immedi- reported, citing the coalition fighting the ate global ceasefire” to help avert disaster Riyadh, Jizan rebels. for vulnerable people in conflict zones. Their interception sent shrapnel raining The call coincided with the fifth RIYADH: Saudi air defenses intercepted on residential neighborhoods in the cities, anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s military ballistic missiles over Riyadh and a city on leaving two civilians injured in Riyadh, a intervention in Yemen’s civil war, which the Yemen border late Saturday, leaving at civil defense spokesman said in a separate was launched to shore up the internation- least two civilians wounded in the capital statement released by SPA. There was no ally recognized government against the that is under curfew in a bid to curb the immediate comment from the rebels. At Houthi rebels. The Yemen government spread of the coronavirus. Multiple explo- least three blasts rocked the capital, which condemned the attack, which it said sions shook Riyadh in the attack, which the is under a 15-hour coronavirus curfew, just undermined efforts to scale down the con- Saudi-led military coalition blamed on before midnight, said AFP reporters. Jizan, flict amid the coronavirus outbreak. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels who like many other Saudi cities, faces a short- Information Minister Moammer Al-Eryani have previously targeted Saudi cities with er dusk-to-dawn curfew. said in a tweet that the strikes also con- missiles, rockets and drones. The assault comes despite a show of firmed the “continued flow of Iranian AL-KHARJ, Saudi Arabia: In this file photo taken on Feb 20, 2020, a member of It was the first major assault on Saudi support on Thursday by all of Yemen’s weapons” to the Houthi militias. the US air force looks on near a Patriot missile battery at Prince Sultan Air Arabia since the Houthis offered last warring parties for a United Nations call Continued on Page 16 Base in central Saudi Arabia. — AFP veillance. While there is widespread stands in stark contrast to mass protests Fears of setback acceptance that robust measures are which last year brought down leaders in needed to slow the infection rate, critics Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan. have voiced fears that states will overreach The region had as of Saturday recorded in liberties in and, once the public health threat has 2,291 COVID-19 deaths out of 35,618 con- passed, keep some of the tough new emer- firmed cases, according to figures collated Middle East gency measures in their toolkits. from states and the World Health This concern is amplified in the Middle Organization, which has urged “concrete CAIRO: Armored vehicles in the streets, East and North Africa, with poorly ranked action” from governments to contain the hundreds arrested, smartphone surveil- human rights records, a cast of authoritari- virus. Authorities have curtailed movement, lance - sweeping measures to fight the an regimes able to bulk up security appa- clamped down on gatherings and arrested coronavirus have raised concerns in the ratuses largely unopposed and many those who disobey the confinement orders. Middle East over the erosion of already states already reeling from political turmoil In Jordan, where King Abdullah II threatened human rights. As the world bat- and economic hardship. The sight of mili- signed a decree giving the government tles the COVID-19 pandemic, more than tary vehicles patrolling otherwise empty exceptional powers, hundreds of people RABAT: Moroccan policemen instruct people to return and remain at home as three billion people are now living under roads to enforce curfews or lockdowns in have been arrested for breaking a curfew. a measure against the coronavirus pandemic in the capital’s district of lockdown and, in some cases, strict sur- countries such as Morocco and Jordan Continued on Page 16 Takadoum on March 27, 2020. —AFP 2 Established 1961 Local Monday, March 30, 2020 Rumors in coronavirus time ruinous to society’s morale, state’s efforts: Academics Stopping rumors a national duty at this critical time: KU professor KUWAIT: Posting and circulation of rumors and fake news in the time of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak could have detrimental impacts on people’s morale and state’s ability to handle and overcome the serious health challenge, a group of Kuwaiti academ- ics have warned as judiciary pursuing rumor-mongers.