KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait reported 284 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country to 4,024, the country’s health ministry said in a statement on Thursday carried by state news agency KUNA.

The ministry also reported two deaths of Indian nationals who were in their early fifties. With two more fatalities, the total number of deaths from the virus in the country stood at 26.

Speaking during a daily press briefing, the ministry spokesman said that 276 out of the total 284 newly detected cases are the results of local transmission. There are four cases that related to travel abroad and three of them are Kuwaiti citizens while four more cases are under investigation for determining the cause of their infection. All of them are Kuwaitis, the spokesman added.

Giving a breakdown of the new cases according to their nationality, the spokesman said that out of 276 cases, 125 of them are Indian citizens, 30 Egyptians, 24 Kuwaiti nationals, 20 Bangladeshis, 18 Pakistanis, 13 Filipinos, 11 Syrians, 8 Lebanese, 5 Iranians, 4 Saudis, 3 each from Sri Lanka and Nepal, 2 Jordanians, one each from Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Sudan and Uzbekistan while 5 of them are illegal residents.

The spokesman also said that 66 patients are in intensive care unit and 36 of them are in critical condition. — SG