KUWAIT — Kuwait on Thursday decided to extend a month-long partial curfew for another two weeks as coronavirus cases continue to rise in the country.

As part of the decision taken during an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet on Thursday, the night curfew, which was scheduled to end this week, will continue until April.

The curfew period, has, however, been reduced by an hour. According to the government spokesman, from April 8 onward, curfew will start at 7 p.m. and end at 5 a.m. and this will continue during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which is expected to start on April 13.

During Ramadan, the Cabinet has allowed delivery services in restaurants, cafes. They can operate from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m.

In another decision, the Cabinet allowed expats to leave only through land and sea ports.

Meanwhile, Kuwait's Ministry of Health recorded on Thursday 1,418 new COVID-19 cases and six more deaths caused by complications caused by the infection over the past 24 hours.

This brings the total number of confirmed infections in the country to 233,521 and virus-related fatalities to 1,319.

According to the ministry’s spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad, there are currently 14,329 active cases in the country out of which 253 are receiving treatment in intensive care units.

A total of 9,580 swab tests were conducted over the past 24 hours, raising the total number of COVID-19 examinations in the country to 2,066,048, Al-Sanad said.

Earlier in the day, the ministry announced that a total of 1,293 more patients have recovered from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, pushing the total number of recoveries in the country to 217,873.

The spokesman urged citizens and expatriates alike that abiding by health precautions, mainly, following social distancing rules, is the only way to halt the spread of the virus. — SG