Kuwait National Assembly cuts fines for health violations to KD 50
Kuwait, The Gulf Observer: The National Assembly yesterday approved amendments to the 1969 health precautions law, cutting fines for violations in public places – like in case of flouting coronavirus measures – to just KD 50 instead of KD 5,000. MP Mohannad Al-Sayer said the amendment will resolve some 8,000 cases referred to courts for coronavirus violations. The amendment becomes effective after publication in the official gazette.
During the session, adjourned prematurely due to a lack of quorum, MPs approved recommendations to the government over coronavirus pandemic measures. The recommendations could not be approved last week due to a lack of quorum. The recommendations call on the government to ease restrictions on unvaccinated people by allowing them to enter malls by presenting a negative PCR test result and allow them to travel to countries that admit them.
They also call to consider people immune against the disease after taking two vaccine doses and allow them to travel. The non-binding recommendations urge the government to exempt returning citizens from doing a PCR test abroad and replace it with one upon arrival.
Meanwhile, the health ministry yesterday reported 3,463 new coronavirus cases, as numbers continue to decline for over a week now. It also announced 5,203 recoveries and one death in the same period. The ministry’s official spokesman Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said 94 patients are in ICUs and 474 in COVID-19 wards, while there are 49,922 active cases, adding 27,947 new tests were carried out in the last 24 hours.
The health ministry also said in a statement that inaccurate information saying that residents are allowed to get booster shots without prior appointment led to an unusually large number of people arriving at the Kuwait Vaccination Center in Mishref. Thanks to coordination with the security authorities and volunteers, the situation was brought under control, and the stampede caused no damage or harm to anyone, according to the statement.
The ministry called on all citizens and residents to obtain information from official sources and commit themselves to the specified time and date of appointment in order to preserve the health and safety of all. Earlier, the interior ministry noted security teams immediately dealt with the overcrowding at the vaccination center, and the situation was immediately brough under control.
In other Assembly news, Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nasser Al-Sabah yesterday called on the National Assembly to investigate what he termed as indecent videos shown by MP Shuaib Al-Muwaizri during his grilling on Tuesday. The minister said in a letter to Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem that such images undermine the integrity of the staff at the ministry.
