Kuwait Times, Wednesday, Aug 25, 2021 | Muharram 17, 1443
Kuwait resumes direct flights with six countries
Emirates:
The Civil Aviation
Authority yesterday announced the resumption of direct commercial flights with
India, Egypt and four Asian nations starting today after several months of
suspension to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The resumption of the flights
also includes Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Together, the six
nations have more than 70 percent of the 3.3 million expats living and working
in Kuwait. The first flight is expected to arrive from Egypt after midnight on
Wednesday to be followed with two flights from India. The civil aviation
circular emphasized the need to observe health guidelines.
The decision to resume direct flights was taken by
the Council of Ministers earlier this week on recommendation by the coronavirus
ministerial committee following a sharp drop in the number of new cases and the
number of patients. The civil aviation also recalled that immunized passengers
are those who had received two doses of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca and one
dose of Johnson and Johnson. Those who had received two doses of unapproved
vaccines abroad – Sinopharm, Sinovac, Sputnik V – must receive and additional
dose of one of the four approved vaccines.
Those who had been vaccinated in Kuwait can prove
vaccination through Immune or Kuwait Mobile ID applications or Kuwait Mosafer
platform, the civil aviation said. Those who had been fully vaccinated outside
Kuwait can prove vaccination by producing a certificate with name identical to
one in passport, type of vaccine and dates, vaccination authority and the QR
code. If the QR code is not available, the vaccination certificate should be
uploaded to the health ministry website for authentication.
Non-immunized domestic workers can be recruited
through registration in the Belsalamah platform, the civil aviation said. In the
meantime, the civil aviation authority has asked the Council of Ministers to
increase the number of arriving passengers above the currently allowed 7,500
because of the expected influx of expats into the country following the
resumption of direct flights with the six countries.