Kuwait locks down two districts

Kuwait placed a full lockdown on two densely-populated districts and extended a public holiday by two weeks until April 26 as precautionary measures against the coronavirus, the cabinet said on Monday.

The closure of state organisations was supposed to end this week and resume work on Sunday, April 12. The two-week extension is part of the government’s intensified efforts and precautionary measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Cabinet also extended the curfew across the country from 5pm to 6 am until further notice, as of Monday. The two districts to be put under a two-week "complete isolation" are Jleeb al-Shuyoukh and Mahboula, two densely populated areas where poorer expatriate workers live.

Deputy Premier and State for Cabinet Affairs Minister Anas Al-Saleh said in an online news conference that the government believed it would be useful to have gradual extension of the curfew in order to allow people leave their houses but only when necessary.

He urged the public to stay indoors even when the curfew ended adding that the lockdown would enable health workers to carry out tests of inhabitants in the two areas for their own wellbeing and for that of the public in general.