Live updates: follow the latest news on Covid-19 variant Omicron
Kuwait‘s Cabinet has banned indoor gatherings from January 9 until February 28 over concerns about the rapid spread of coronavirus.
Under tighter Covid-19 restrictions, as of Tuesday, incoming travellers will be required to show a negative PCR test result taken not more than 72 hours before arriving in the country, state news agency Kuna reported.
The government also urged residents to obtain booster vaccine doses “to prevent a third wave of the pandemic”, Kuna said.
Kuwait‘s Ministry of Health said that the number of daily reported Covid-19 cases has ”doubled” over the past 10 days.
“For indicators to remain under control, continuous co-operations, awareness and care are required,” it said in a tweet.
More than 85 per cent of Kuwait’s population, or 3.2 million people, received two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, the Health Ministry’s latest figures show.
The Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson vaccines are among the approved inoculations in the country.
In recent days, Kuwait’s embassies in the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ukraine and France have issued warnings for citizens to leave these countries and return home amid fears of a surge in the new Omicron strain of the virus and further travel restrictions.
Kuwait is also facing a bout of unstable weather that has prompted the government to warn people to remain indoors.
The Kuwait Meteorological Department said visibility would improve today but heavy winds and low temperatures are expected to continue.
Qatar hospitals overcrowded
Social media personality Mohammed Al Dosari sparked public debate about health care in Qatar after describing the overcrowded hospital he took his sick child to.
”There’s like 60 thousand children in there,” Mr Al Dosari said to his 830 thousand Instagram followers.
He said people were at greater risk of catching the virus under those conditions and appealed the Minister of Health to take steps to reduce crowding.
People on social media have complained of long queues at screening centres and delays in receiving results, even for rapid tests.
The daily number of cases have surpassed the 1,100 mark, the highest since the country experienced its first wave in mid-2020.
Qatar’s state-owned non-profit Hamad Medical Corporation encouraged people to use its home delivery service for medicines rather than leave the house.
Israel to admit foreigners
Israel said it will admit foreigners with presumed Covid-19 immunity from medium-risk countries as of January 9, relaxing a ban imposed in late November.
On Monday, the health ministry said travellers from 199 countries designated “orange”, including Australia, Italy and Ireland, would be allowed to enter if they could prove in advance they had been vaccinated or had recovered from Covid-19.
They will be subject to PCR testing before and after arrival.
Coronavirus pandemic around the world - in pictures
The health ministry has also recommended that South Africa, Nigeria, Spain, Portugal, France and Canada, currently among 16 countries listed as “red” or high risk for Covid-19, be downgraded to “orange”.
Israel is offering a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people aged 60 and over, and is the first country in the world to widely offer the extra shot to fight off Omicron.
The fourth dose will also be made available to medical staff who had their last vaccine shot at least four months ago, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday.
Last week, Israel approved the extra shot for people who are immunocompromised, nursing home residents or patients on geriatric wards.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
if you go
The flights
Direct flights from the UAE to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, are available with Air Arabia, (www.airarabia.com) Fly Dubai (www.flydubai.com) or Etihad (www.etihad.com) from Dh1,200 return including taxes. The trek described here started from Jomson, but there are many other start and end point variations depending on how you tailor your trek. To get to Jomson from Kathmandu you must first fly to the lake-side resort town of Pokhara with either Buddha Air (www.buddhaair.com) or Yeti Airlines (www.yetiairlines.com). Both charge around US$240 (Dh880) return. From Pokhara there are early morning flights to Jomson with Yeti Airlines or Simrik Airlines (www.simrikairlines.com) for around US$220 (Dh800) return.
The trek
Restricted area permits (US$500 per person) are required for trekking in the Upper Mustang area. The challenging Meso Kanto pass between Tilcho Lake and Jomson should not be attempted by those without a lot of mountain experience and a good support team. An excellent trekking company with good knowledge of Upper Mustang, the Annaurpuna Circuit and Tilcho Lake area and who can help organise a version of the trek described here is the Nepal-UK run Snow Cat Travel (www.snowcattravel.com). Prices vary widely depending on accommodation types and the level of assistance required.
UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
more from Janine di Giovanni
Brief scoreline:
Toss: South Africa, elected to bowl first
England (311-8): Stokes 89, Morgan 57, Roy 54, Root 51; Ngidi 3-66
South Africa (207): De Kock 68, Van der Dussen 50; Archer 3-27, Stokes 2-12
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The biog
Born: near Sialkot, Pakistan, 1981
Profession: Driver
Family: wife, son (11), daughter (8)
Favourite drink: chai karak
Favourite place in Dubai: The neighbourhood of Khawaneej. “When I see the old houses over there, near the date palms, I can be reminded of my old times. If I don’t go down I cannot recall my old times.”