Kuwait has announced a “total” lockdown of 20 days to combat the coronavirus.

The lockdown, which wlll begin on Sunday 10 May at 4pm and continue until May 30, will see public sector work continue remotely and all but essential private sector activities suspended.

Essential sectors like health, security, electricity, oil and municipal services, as well as private sector companies providing vital services like maintenance will be exempt from the lockdown, and issued permits to enable them to travel to and from work.

Supermarkets and food outlets will remain open, but those wishing to visit them will have to book an appointment in advance. Only one person from each family will be allowed out for shopping.

People will be required to wear protective masks and practice social distancing when out of their homes and are allowed to go out for walks between 4.30 and 6.30 pm, without using any vehicles.

Kuwait recently announced an uptick in the country’s coronavirus cases. The country registered 641 new cases today, bringing its total to 7,208, according to the Ministry of Health.

Like other Gulf countries, Kuwait hosts a large foreign worker population that is now in a difficult situation.

Sri Lankan Workers in Kuwait

Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary, Ravinatha Ariyasinghe had this to say about Sri Lankan Workers who wants to return from Kuwait.

“Then in places like Kuwait, in addition to that vulnerability for COVID which is common to the rest of the Middle East, there is also an amnesty declared by the Kuwaiti government and we are conscious that there is anxiety on the part of foreign employees that if they lose this amnesty they will have greater difficulty coming out and returning as legals someday.

The Kuwaiti government at this point has offered to fly them back to Sri Lanka. In fact, this evening Foreign Minister, having received Cabinet sanction yesterday, is going to engage with its Kuwaiti counterpart and will be discussing a process by which Sri Lanka can respect that amnesty offer.

We will be starting the process, but the Kuwait government is very conscious that we can’t bring all the people who are wanting to come at this point. Therefore, we will have to, between the two governments, have some negotiations on how we phase that out.” He said.