Kuwaitis planning to travel to Singapore urged to delay

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Kuwait committed to declare coronavirus cases

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 8, (KUNA): The State of Kuwait Embassy in Singapore on Saturday urged citizens who want to travel to Singapore to delay their travel plans after the government of the Asian nation raised the alert level to orange degree due to spread of the coronavirus.

The embassy said in a statement that it was the first time that Singaporean Ministry of Health raised the alert level to the delicate status since 17 years ago. The heightened state of alert came after authorities declared that 33 persons were infected with the new strain of corona – including ten who did not visit China. The Kuwaiti Embassy has also called on citizens desiring to travel to wait until normal conditions are restored, urging Kuwaitis in the Asian country to leave rapidly and abstain from staying except for compelling reasons.

Instruction
It stressed on the necessity to follow up on instructions issued by local authorities, abide by the special measures and refrain from approaching crowded places and shopping malls. For emergencies, the embassy is reachable on the phone number: 006598344022.

Meanwhile, Director of Public Health Department Dr Fahad Al-Ghamlas says Kuwait is committed to reporting and announcing any confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, affirming that this commitment is imposed by global treaties signed with the World Health Organization (WHO), reports Al-Anba daily.

He stressed that the ministry is committed to upholding the principle of transparency with the local and foreign media in this regard, and most importantly the World Health Organization, which is by informing the public about the official statistics on a daily basis, as the ministry publishes the global disease statistics daily via social media.

Regarding suspicious cases, Dr Al-Ghamlas said during an interview on Al-Arabiya TV that, “There are similarities of symptoms between the new coronavirus disease and infl uenza during this season, render ing suspicion of cases to be a bit confusing”.

Concerning actual suspicions, he explained that people who show the symptoms and arrive from the infected places are regarded as suspicious cases. It is also a dynamic definition that can be changed on a daily basis in terms of identifying whether the affected areas are only China and the neighboring East Asian countries or other parts of the world where there are reported cases of coronavirus.

He said, “If a person arrives from these areas and complains of symptoms during the specified incubation period of 10-14 days, then preventive measures are applied along with the tests we have, and the results are received directly, which settles the suspicion”. Dr Al-Ghamlas went on to say, “We are proud of the health system in Kuwait. We are among the first to prepare for the coronavirus, which was a disease that was limited to a specific place and passed from animals to humans. As soon as the case emerged and confirmed that it affects humans, the indicators began to monitor where the epidemic might spread. For this we have conducted several meetings from the highest level in Ministry of Health to the medical staff. Coordination has been established among the various sectors of the ministry, among health sectors and other related sectors such as the Directorate General for Civil Aviation, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense and others”

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