Covid-19: Kuwait to impose travel ban on unvaccinated citizens as of May 22

A travel ban will be imposed on Kuwaitis and their first degree relatives and domestic helpers as of May 22, if they do not receive the Covid-19 vaccine, the government has announced.

Young individuals who need not get inoculated will be exempt from this ban, Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Dr. Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohamad Al-Sabah said. Non-Kuwaiti individuals are still not permitted to enter the country, he added.

The cabinet urged all citizens and expatriates to exercise caution and stressed that abiding by measures to accelerate the vaccination campaign is to ensure public safety. It also approved the demand of the Ministry of Health on deploying 500 nursing students of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training for six months to fill the shortage at the ministry, Kuwait News Agency reported.

Kuwait gov’t imposes travel ban on unvaccinated citizens as of May 22 https://t.co/ln0VUA7hF5#KUNA #KUWAIT

— Kuwait News Agency – English Feed (@kuna_en) May 3, 2021

Additionally, Kuwait’s health ministry confirmed that it would delay appointments for the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to upto six weeks after the first dose, whereas for those above 60 and with underlying conditions, the timeframe between both doses would be three weeks.

Kuwait extends second dose of COVID-19 vaccines over delayed exportshttps://t.co/s2Ud35504X#KUNA #KUWAIT

— Kuwait News Agency – English Feed (@kuna_en) May 3, 2021

On May 3, Kuwait reported 1,246 new Covid-19 cases and 12 related deaths over the preceding 24 hours. The country’s case count stands at 277,832, while its death toll equals 1,590.

#KUNA #KUWAIT pic.twitter.com/w1Se7EwIHX

— Kuwait News Agency – English Feed (@kuna_en) May 3, 2021