Kuwait’s coronavirus cases surge 65%

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kuwait scaled to 43 on Thursday, a 65 per cent surge within 24 hours, Kuwait News Agency tweeted.

Kuwait Health Ministry: total number of confirmed coronavirus cases goes up to 43#KUNA #KUWAIT
(M.T)

— kuna (@kuna_en) February 27, 2020

Schools and universities across the country have been suspended for two weeks beginning March 1. The suspension includes students and members of the teaching staff.

Kuwait’s national carrier, Kuwait Airways, announced its intent to operate a special flight on Thursday, February 27, to evacuate nationals from Milan and to ensure their safe passage home, the country’s official news outlet confirmed.

The Milan-bound flight will take off at 2.25pm (Milan local time) and return at 10.15pm (Kuwait time).

Kuwait has suspended flights to and from Iraq, South Korea, Thailand, Italy, in an attempt to contain the virus. It also stalled all flights to and from Singapore and Japan.

Read more: Kuwait, Oman confirm additional coronavirus cases

The coronavirus infection, that reportedly emanated from a food market in the Chinese city of Wuhan and spread to more than 30 countries, has claimed more than 2,800 lives.

While the total number of global cases has surged to over 82,000, majority of them – over 78,000 – have been reported in China.

Also read: Revealed: All you need to know about the coronavirus Covid-19

With inputs from Bloomberg