Govt Says It's Ready for Total Curfew, but No Decision
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SHAABAN 20, 1441 AH MONDAY, APRIL 13, 2020 20 Pages Max 31º Min 21º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18105 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net 15-member Indian medical Traditional Japan seal system Amid pandemic, turning Football sponsors worry that 3 team, supplies in Kuwait 7 hampers telework for some 12 point for telemedicine 20 they are paying for nothing Govt says it’s ready for total curfew, but no decision yet 80 new virus cases • Crackdown on visa traders • Saudi extends curfew indefinitely By B Izzak few decision is taken. He added that what is tion to happen before the start of the holy being circulated about a total curfew in month of Ramadan on April 24. Reports said KUWAIT: The government said yesterday untrue and baseless. Local and social media the government will operate within days an it is ready and prepared for imposing a total have been rife with expectations that the air bridge to bring back more than 10,000 curfew in the country, but reiterated that no government is on the brink of imposing a citizens from several countries, and most of decision has been taken yet. Interior Minister total curfew in the face of a steep rise in the them will pledge to stay in home quarantine Anas Al-Saleh said that total curfew remains number of coronavirus cases, which on as there is no space to keep them in health an option for the health authorities based on Saturday jumped to 161 cases, the largest ministry quarantines. public interest and the protection of the single-day toll so far. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman health system in the country. The minister As the government placed Jleeb Al- extended a nationwide curfew until further however said security agencies are ready Shuyoukh and Mahboula under lockdown, notice due to the spread of the new coron- and prepared to impose the curfew as soon where more than half a million expat work- avirus, the interior ministry said yesterday, as the decision is issued. Saleh made the ers live, authorities have stepped up their after the kingdom reported more than 300 remarks as he inspected Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, fight against visa traders. The public prose- new infections on each of the last four which is under a lockdown, and a number of cutor has ordered the detention of a Kuwaiti days. Last week Saudi Arabia placed its shelters and quarantines for expat workers. officer along with his six Egyptian partners capital Riyadh and other big cities under a The ministry of health yesterday report- and charged them of trafficking in persons 24-hour curfew, locking down much of the ed 80 new coronavirus cases, raising the and selling residence permits for money. population to stem the spread of the virus. total number to 1,234, of whom 142 cases The main suspect is a colonel in the Elsewhere, the curfew which began on have recovered and one died. Of the new interior ministry, who was sacked last week March 23 runs from 3 pm to 6 am. cases, 45 are Indians, raising their number by the interior minister. He is accused of The country of some 30 million has close to 700, in addition to nine bringing some 1,300 Egyptian workers for recorded 4,033 infections with 52 deaths, Bangladeshis, six Kuwaitis, six Egyptians and amounts reaching up to KD 2,000 per per- the highest among the six Gulf Arab states six Iranians, while the remaining are of vari- son and leaving them without jobs. His where the total count has surpassed 13,200 ous other nationalities. company also used to charge several hun- with 88 deaths despite strict measures to Government spokesman Tareq Al- dred dinars for annual renewal of residen- curb transmissions. The kingdom has halted Mazrem said no decision has been taken to cies. international flights, suspended the year- impose a total curfew, and all government MPs have also pressed the government round umrah pilgrimage, and closed most agencies have been making preparations, to repatriate thousands of Kuwaitis stranded public places. Other Gulf states have taken arrangements and plans in case the total cur- overseas. The lawmakers want the repatria- similar precautions. of popular protests, political turmoil and agree on cuts at a virtual summit Friday. Easter celebrations muted as Oil prices, virus, now, coronavirus. The North African coun- Even if a deal is reached, Algeria will not try is an example of how hydrocarbon be out of the woods, oil expert Nazim economies are likely to face unrest if oil Zouioueche told official news agency APS, US virus deaths top 20,000 instability put prices remain at near two-decade lows as any impact would be “temporary” due due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a to the worldwide pandemic. Algeria on edge price war between key players Saudi In Algeria, the price collapse has Arabia and Russia. destroyed revenue projections, with ALGIERS: Algeria faces economic and Oil cartel OPEC announced that major President Abdelmadjid Tebboune social turmoil if crude prices continue to producers had proposed to cut output acknowledging the “vulnerability” of the collapse, experts have warned, with the between May and June by 10 million bar- country’s oil-dependent economy. oil-dependent country reeling from a year rels per day. But G20 countries failed to Continued on Page 16 JERUSALEM: Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, walks past garbage collectors yesterday as he makes his way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre before the start of the Easter Sunday service amid the coronavirus disease outbreak. — AFP ROME: Christians celebrated Easter But hopes began to rise in Western Sunday under coronavirus lockdown Europe and heavily infected parts of in many countries with church pews America that the pandemic was empty and the pope on live stream, as peaking. Many were looking to the US death toll from the disease China’s Wuhan, where the disease passed 20,000. At the climax of Holy first emerged late last year, as life Week for the planet’s two billion-plus began to return to normal while offi- Christians, congregations were shut- cials lifted stay-inside restrictions. tered at home to avoid spreading the However for much of the world, from pathogen that has infected at least 1.7 India to France, strict lockdowns million worldwide. Pope Francis was were still in force. set to break with centuries of tradition A handful of US priests and pas- by taking his Easter mass online, with tors risked arrest by announcing they Saint Peter’s Square - packed every would hold public services in their year with worshippers - left deserted. churches yesterday, snubbing rules The United States, with around a and medical advice. But most were fifth of the more than 100,000 total putting services online, and some COVID-19 deaths, topped the list for were innovating with “drive-in” bless- both fatalities and numbers of ings. President Donald Trump will be declared cases, according to a tally among those following Easter services maintained by Baltimore-based Johns online, tweeting he would log on Hopkins University. Italy, the hardest- Sunday morning to watch Robert hit country in Europe, has recorded Jeffress, the leader of a Southern more than 19,000 confirmed virus Baptist megachurch in Texas and an deaths - second only to the US, which ardent supporter of the US leader. has a population five times its size. Continued on Page 16 2 Established 1961 Monday, April 13, 2020 Local Kuwait Audit Bureau approves contracts for 12 quarantine sites Various airliners to operate expatriates’ outbound flights KUWAIT: The State Audit Bureau (SAB) ordinate with airway companies to sched- approved Saturday 12 contracts for sites to ule the flights for expatriates eager to travel be used as quarantine for Kuwaitis return- back to their respective home countries. ing from abroad. Speaking to the press, SAB’s undersecretary and head of the bu- Stores closed reau’s emergency team Suleiman Al-Busairi Separately, the Ministry of Commerce said that they were in contact with officials and Industry announced yesterday the clo- from several locally based and interna- sure of 17 commercial stores that did not tional-brand hotels to discuss using their abide by preventive measures laws as part facilities for quarantine. The contracts var- of combating the spread of the novel coro- ied in daily expenses and services from KD navirus (COVID-19). In a statement to the 4,000 ($12,000) to KD 45 ($144), he indi- press, the ministry said that two stores were cated. The approval are within the state’s reopened as well, adding that ministry in- laws, Busairi affirmed, indicating that a spectors monitored 279 cooperative soci- number of hotels agreed to the deals, while eties, markets, commercial stores, and others declined. vegetable stand-alone shops to determine the extent of their commitment to new reg- Expat flights ulations and to maintain the stability of In other news, the Directorate General of prices to products. The ministry noted that Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Saturday that their teams also monitored 80 ration house airliners could operate outbound flights for branches to ensure their abiding by the members of the expatriate community in measures and the selling of food rations to Kuwait wishing to travel back to their home people. The ministry added that it received countries. All airliners will schedule flights 184 compliant calls on its emergency hot- for several destinations in accordance with line, through their number 135, and 12 of the cabinet decision made on April 9, af- those calls were received through their firmed the directorate.