Kuwait is removing most of its social restrictions to slow the spread of Covid-19, with case numbers at their lowest since the pandemic began more than 18 months ago, the Cabinet announced late on Wednesday.
Face masks will no longer be required outside from Sunday but they will still be mandatory indoors while physical distancing rules will remain in most places, the government's communication centre head Tariq Al Mezrim said.
Conferences, weddings and other social events will be allowed to take place, with attendance limited to vaccinated people.
The Cabinet has decided to drop social distancing restrictions for worshippers at mosques from Friday.
Kuwait International Airport will resume operating at full capacity from Sunday, the Cabinet spokesman said.
People who have received two doses of a recognised Covid-19 vaccine will be allowed into the country, provided they can show proof of their vaccination status.
The Gulf country has seen a gradual return to normal life as daily cases of coronavirus fall steadily.
Only 20 cases were recorded on Wednesday in the country of 4.7 million people. Kuwait's seven-day average number of infections is only 33, compared with about 2,000 at its peak in July. The country has registered 412,000 cases and 2,458 deaths.
Kuwait's health authorities said last month they had now vaccinated about 70 per cent of the population against the coronavirus. The country began its vaccination campaign in December.
In April, mobile vaccination units were opened in businesses and mosques around the country.
India squad
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, K.L. Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Shardul Thakur.
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
England squad
Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, James Bracey, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Ben Foakes, Lewis Gregory, Keaton Jennings, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Amar Virdi, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
