Kuwait Goes Back to Work As COVID Cases Decline
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MUHARRAM 8, 1443 AH MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2021 16 Pages Max 46º Min 34º 150 Fils Established 1961 ISSUE NO: 18507 The First Daily in the Arabian Gulf www.kuwaittimes.net Firefighters put out fire that Iran COVID deaths top Multibillion-dollar reconstruction Man City shocked 1-0 4 engulfed trees in Abu Halifa 5 600 in new daily high 8 projects await in post-war Libya 16 by Kane-less Tottenham Kuwait goes back to work as COVID cases decline Security personnel ensure traffic flows smoothly during rush hours 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 authori- ties to reduce the number of civil servants show- ing up to work as a precautionary measure against COVID-19. Employee turnout was gradu- ally upped as measures were eased after indica- tors showed dwindling numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths amid an intensive national campaign to immunize as many people as possi- ble. 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 yester- day. 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 cur- KUWAIT: All public sector employees returned to work yesterday, as did traffic jams. — KUNA rently stands at 446, of whom 205 are in intensive Continued on Page 2 going, but leading Afghan media group Afghan forces in order to maintain law and Ghani flees Tolo news suggested he was heading to order. Tajikistan. Ghani’s departure from office “God forbid the common thieves and was one of the key demands of the Taleban robbers in Kabul do not mix, the abusers as Taleban in months of peace talks with the govern- do not harm the people, the Islamic ment, but he had stubbornly clung to pow- Emirate ordered its forces to enter the enter Kabul er. In just over a week, the Taleban have areas of Kabul from which the enemy carried out a lightning sweep of the coun- went,” a statement by the Taleban said. KABUL: President Ashraf Ghani fled try, with troops incapable of holding onto “There is a risk of theft and robbery.” Afghanistan yesterday, a top official said, territory without US military support. There are fears of a security vacuum in the effectively ceding power to the Taleban as The insurgents said they want a capital as thousands of police and other they reached the capital Kabul to seal a “peaceful transfer” within the next few armed services members have abandoned nationwide military victory in just 10 days. days, two decades after US-led forces their posts, uniforms, and even weapons. “The former Afghan President has left the toppled it in the wake of the Sept 11, 2001 The United States began moving its cit- nation, leaving the people to this situation,” attacks. The group ordered its fighters izens and Afghan staff to Kabul airport, Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the peace earlier yesterday not to enter the capital, with the help of thousands of troops process, said in a video on his Facebook saying the remnants of the government’s deployed to the capital to assist with the page. “God hold him accountable, and the forces were responsible for security. But evacuation. However, Secretary of State people will have their judgement.” later, a spokesman tweeted that Taleban Antony Blinken yesterday dismissed He gave no indication where Ghani was forces should enter areas deserted by Continued on Page 2 Taleban fighters are seen in a town in Laghman province yesterday. — AFP It revived bitter memories of an 28 killed in enormous explosion at Beirut port last August that killed more than 200 German football people and destroyed swathes of the Lebanon fuel capital. An adviser to the health min- legend Mueller istry said the death toll from the blast tank blast in Al-Tleil village in the Akkar region had climbed to 28. The Lebanese Red dies aged 75 BEIRUT: A fuel tank blast in Cross said 79 others were injured. Lebanon early yesterday killed 28 The military said a fuel tank that “had BERLIN: Legendary people and injured nearly 80, authori- been confiscated by the army to dis- German striker Gerd ties and medics said, burning a crowd tribute to citizens” exploded just Mueller died in the early clamoring for petrol in the crisis-hit before 2:00 am (2300 GMT). Soldiers hours of yesterday at the country. The tragedy in the remote were among the victims. age of 75, his former club north overwhelmed medical facilities The army began raiding petrol sta- Bayern Munich announced, and heaped new misery on a nation tions Saturday to curb hoarding by as tributes were paid to the already beset by an economic crisis suppliers following a central bank footballer nicknamed “The and severe fuel shortages that have decision to scrap fuel subsidies. The Smoke billows from the reported home of the lot owner where a fuel tank Bomber”. “Today, the crippled hospitals and caused long official National News Agency (NNA) that exploded was placed in the village of Tlel in Lebanon’s northern region world of FC Bayern stands power cuts. Continued on Page 2 of Akkar yesterday. — AFP still,” the Bundesliga giants wrote on their website with the famous club logo hard-hit cities on the southwestern colored black. Death toll in peninsula, most of the population During a glittering Gerd Mueller spent the night sleeping outdoors in career, Mueller scored a front of their houses - or what record 365 goals for Bayern in the Bundesliga dur- massive Haiti remained of them - amid fears of new ing the 1960s and 70s, as well as scoring 68 times aftershocks. for West Germany in 62 internationals. “Today is a quake hits 724 The streets there were filled with sad, black day for FC Bayern and its fans,” said the grinding sounds of heavy equip- Bayern president Herbert Hainer. “Gerd Mueller LES CAYES, Haiti: The death toll in ment lifting debris from collapsed was the greatest striker there has ever been - and a Haiti’s powerful earthquake jumped to buildings, as well as the quieter fine person, a personality in world football. over 700 yesterday as crews desper- sounds of people pulling away rubble “Without Gerd Mueller, FC Bayern would not be ately dug through collapsed buildings by hand in desperate searches for the the club we all love today. His name and the memo- for survivors in the Caribbean nation missing. “Thanks to God and also to ry of him will live on forever.” — AFP (See Page 14) still reeling from its president’s assas- my phone, I’m alive,” said Marcel LES CAYES, Haiti: People search through the rubble of what used to be the sination. In Les Cayes, as in other Continued on Page 2 Manguier Hotel after the earthquake struck on Saturday. — AFP 2 Established 1961 Monday, August 16, 2021 Local Photos of the Day KUWAIT: These photos taken by Kuwaiti astrophotographers Mohammad Awad Al-Obaidi (left) and Abdullah Al-Harbi show the Perseid meteor shower as seen in Kuwait City. Kuwait mulls KD 1,000 visa fee for 60+ residents KUWAIT: Today is the first anniversary The same sources, who were quoted insurance policy is due to the high medical said the ministry would oversee the local force, while creating cooperation in their of a controversial decision by the Director anonymously by Al-Qabas Arabic newspa- costs of the age groups of 60 and above, labor market and employment of Kuwaitis plans towards organizing the local market- of Public Authority for Manpower per yesterday, said the decision the in addition to the types of treatment pri- in the public and private sectors. The place. This option was discussed previous- (520/2020) on the rules and procedures Cabinet supports will reduce the fees on vate hospitals will offer through this cate- sources said the study for establishing the ly but was not approved, and it has sur- for granting work permits, which included this category of residents by 50 percent, gory of insurance. portfolio seeks to adopt one of two faced again lately. a ban on issuing permits to those who so the maximum annual fee will be KD options - both aiming at employing The second option is to include CSC, reach the age of 60 and do not hold a uni- 1,000 per individual instead of KD 2,000. Ministry of labor? Kuwaitis. PAM and the higher education ministry. versity degree. But the Cabinet is strongly This will include the state’s fee expected to In other news, the same newspaper They said the first choice is to include The sources said the portfolio will be behind a humanitarian solution to the be not more than KD 500, and the same or reported yesterday that the government is the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and under one minister, adding this option will problem that was created by the above- less for insurance that will cover all medical contemplating establishing a new ministe- Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) be the cornerstone for organizing the local mentioned decision, according to govern- treatments in the private sector. rial portfolio called the “ministry of labor”. while maintaining the administrative struc- labor market and having higher education ment sources.