Kuwait allows return of expat healthcare workers

Health ministry workers, wearing protective outfits, wait on the tarmac of the Kuwait international Airport to receive Kuwaitis returning from Frankfurt on March 26, 2020 [STR/AFP via Getty Images]

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a decision allowing all workers of the Ministry of Health and their first-degree relatives, holding valid residency permits and entry visas, to return to the country on direct or transit flights, Kuwaiti Al-Rai newspaper reported.

DGCA Spokesman Saad Al-Otaibi confirmed that the decision is based on instructions from the Ministry of Health, explaining that the expatriates and their relatives will be subjected to quarantine procedures upon their arrival into the country as a precautionary measure.

“Previously, the Health Ministry sent lists of names and numbers of the needed employees. But after coordination with civil aviation, the decision has been taken allowing the immediate return of all workers at the Health Ministry,” Al- Otaibi told Al-Rai.

Nearly 600,000 expatriates and their families are stranded abroad due to travel restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

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