soccer Pages 14 & 16 THE FIRST ENGLISH LANGUAGE DAILY IN FREE KUWAIT Page 15 ice hockey Established in 1977 / www.arabtimesonline.com FRIDAY-SATURDAY, APRIL 2-3, 2021 / SHABAAN 20-21, 1442 AH emergency number 112 NO. 17653 16 PAGES 150 FILS PROSPECTS FOR GRADUAL RETURN TO NORMAL IN JULY Airport reopening linked to case rate Restrictions likely to continue through Ramadan KUWAIT CITY, April 1: Director of the Air Transportation Department at the Di- to the bed capacity of the institutional quarantine centers.” rectorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Abdullah Al-Rajhi revealed details of the During an interview, he indicated that a total of 3.875 million passengers used the airport in 2020, which is less by 11.57 million compared to the total of 15.448 million passengers in 2019, adding that the number of flights also decreased by more repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on passenger traffic at Kuwait International than 74,000. Airport during the past year, reports Al-Rai daily. Al-Rajhi said, “We were informed by 18 travel and tourism companies to stop activity due to the disruption of air traffic He said, “The reopening of the airport will depend on the decrease in the rate of COVID-19 infections and their and travel as a result of the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its continuation for a long period of time. The stability at a low rate. Even if the Ministry of Health increases the number of passengers permitted to enter, it will number of companies operating at Kuwait International Airport has decreased from 52 to 47 during the summer of 2020, with not do so directly, but gradually, especially since the number of passengers allowed to be transported is related the suspension of five companies operating at the airport on an occasional basis.” He stressed that the airport cannot be accused of causing an increase in the CO- VID-19 infections, as it is subject to strict precautionary health measures, adding Opinion that the infection indicators among the cases coming to the country are very low. Al-Rajhi explained that statistics re- vealed that the discovered cases were only about five out of 3,000 domestic workers Immunize us as you have immunized yourself who came to the country. They were quar- antined until it was confirmed that they were cured and did not carry the virus. The authorities at the airport do not lax in By Ahmed Al-Jarallah implementing the health requirements. Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times Despite the recent spike in the number Newswatch of deaths and infections with coronavirus AFTER a long wait during which there was lack in the country, a government official said things will start to return to normal in of any indication of the ability of the executive KUWAIT CITY: The transfer authority to resolve and conclude matters in its of residencies of parents to the July, reports Al-Qabas daily. sponsorship of their children in The official revealed that the country favor, the government suddenly woke up from has been assured it will receive large its floundering by issuing a series of firm deci- accordance with Article 22 (fam- ily visa) is the responsibility of quantities of approved vaccines, which sions, the most important of which is related to the offi ce of the Assistant Under- means the companies producing anti- immunizing His Highness the Prime Minister secretary for Residency Affairs corona vaccines will further increase sup- Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled from political account- Major General Anwar Al-Barjas, plies of their vaccines to accelerate the ability. reports Al-Qabas daily quoting pace of vaccination and achieve commu- This decision was taken despite the fact that reliable sources. nity immunity soon. the MPs submitted interpellations against His They explained that the resi- He said that vaccine supplies will be dency affairs departments in the better at the end of the second quarter of Highness the Prime Minister and the ministers. six governorates, and the General The lesson remains that this immunity, which has this year; while the implementation of Department of Residency Affairs health regulations including social dis- been given to the Cabinet, gives it the power to do not receive these transactions. tancing and wearing masks will continue implement its projects and enact laws. Instead, such transactions should until the end of 2022. Today, all the considerations with which the be referred to the offi ce of the As- government was building its positions have sistant Undersecretary for Resi- Transmission dency Affairs. evaporated after it acquired immunity that keeps ❑ ❑ ❑ Regarding the opening of Kuwait In- it away from a virus that nearly killed it, and ternational Airport, the official confirmed robbed any future government of the ability to KUWAIT CITY: Abdullah Zu- that the airport will open once the vac- confront the parliament. hair, an independent interna- cination of citizens is completed as this Therefore, the government no longer has any Teresa Ting stands for a portrait, March 31, 2021, in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens tional consultant expert in law will protect them from transmission of borough of New York. The vicious assault of a 65-year-old woman while walking to church this on international employment the virus. justification regarding its inability to meet the and basic rights at work and hu- This coincides with the recent an- people in the middle of the road, and to be popu- week near New York City’s Times Square has heightened already palpable levels of outrage over anti-Asian attacks that started with the pandemic. Ting, a 29-year-old Chinese American, man rights, has appealed to the nouncement of the International Air list par excellence. started what has become the Main Street Patrol following an attack on another older Asian political leadership to abolish Transport Association (IATA) that a digi- It is the government of Kuwait that serves its American woman in February. (AP) the sponsorship system in the tal travel permit showing results of Co- people, not the government of individuals, MPs, country and set the minimum vid-19 tests and vaccination certificates wage for workers in the correct will be launched on the Apple platform or influential people. It has become imperative to manner and in strict accordance prove its worth so that it does not regress to disor- with international labor stand- in mid-April. This digital travel permit, der or lose its credibility in the eyes of the public ards, which will give the State of which is currently in the testing phase, before the parliament. Kuwait a distinctive resonance was expected to be launched at the end Postponing the interpellations until after the at the international and region- of March. second term of the legislative session is an op- al levels, reports Al-Seyassah Kuwait’s Deputy Prime Minister and daily. Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Ja- portunity for His Highness the Prime Minister to In a statement, the daily, a ber Al-Ali affirmed that the partial ban highlight his well-known integrity, honesty, and copy of which has been obtained will continue during the next stage until the ability to assume responsibility. by the daily, he said, “I was lucky the numbers of cases decrease, especially Indeed, this type of person is considered to be and had the honor to work with with the entry of the blessed month of Ra- of worth by Kuwaitis and is capable of assuming the Kuwaiti government for sev- madan, reports Al Qabas. greater responsibilities. eral years when I was a regional Al-Ali responded to Al-Qabas’s ques- The public is waiting to see what His Highness advisor to the Arab countries in tion, saying: “One of the reasons for the the United Nations International increase in Coronavirus infections are the Prime Minister and the Cabinet will present Labor Organization, and I can and to pull from the MPs the cards which they gatherings, and in Ramadan gatherings say that Kuwait is a state of in- will increase, and our recommendations have been using to extort the state institutions stitutions and a state of law in which the democratically elected to the Council of Ministers are to main- from which they reaped their popularity while tain the partial ban, while modifying and spending from the state’s pocket. Parliament works as a real legis- lative authority in monitoring the reducing the hours of the ban. Kuwaiti officials often talk elaborately about executive authority.” The Directorate General of Civil Avia- issues of concern to people. They reassure that ❑ ❑ ❑ tion (DGCA) has meanwhile approved the country is fine, its finances and oil wealth is the list of laboratories accredited within sufficient for the next fifty years, and there can be KUWAIT CITY: The Civil Ser- the MUNA program – a mechanism link- no deficit if there is responsible management of vice Commission (CSC) has ing external laboratories – for the verifi- started reviewing the Kuwaitiza- cation of PCR test certificates issued to public money. From time to time, they also use tion rates in various government the expired slogan –“diversifying sources of in- arriving passengers from five countries Left and right: These images taken from surveillance video provided by the New York City Po- agencies for the current fi scal as follows: Spain, France, America, the come” – even though no progress has yet been lice Department show a person of interest (background center), assaulting an Asian American year, while it stopped the pay- United Kingdom and Jordan, reports achieved. woman (on ground), March 29, 2021, in New York. The 65-year-old woman was walking in ment of indemnity to expatriates who ended their service unless Al-Qabas daily quoting a reliable source In fact, the successive governments enacted midtown Manhattan a few blocks from Times Square on Monday afternoon when a man ap- from Kuwait International Airport.