Kuwait City: Kuwait has announced that it has approved the return of around 800 expatriates from countries that it has banned on health grounds.
The returnees will be placed under institutional quarantine, Al Rai newspaper reported.
The Supreme Committee for Coronavirus Emergency approved the exemption, but they will be quarantined at their expense or that of their employers, the paper added, citing unidentified sources.
The return of another group of 600 expatriates are yet to be approved.
The exempted categories include doctors, judges and experts in maintenance at the Kuwaiti ministries of oil and electricity.
“Allowing this means there is no need of the ban list, a matter that does not suit the current situation where some of those countries are experiencing an increase in infection rates or an unstable epidemiological scene in others,” a source said.
“Health factors are still the prime criterion, given the rise in the number of infections due to non-compliance with preventive measures,” the source added.
Kuwait announced banning entry of passengers from 32 “high-risk” countries until further notice on instructions from Kuwaiti health authorities due to the global coronavirus pandemi, last month.
The ban includes India, Pakistan, Egypt, and the Philippines that have large expatriate communities in Kuwait.