People wearing protective masks wait at a bus station in Kuwait City on March 2, 2020, amid a global outbreak of the novel Coronavirus. (AFP)
No coronavirus cases have been detected among Egyptian expats in Kuwait, according to the Gulf state's deputy health minister, who said all cases in the country at present are Kuwaiti nationals.
"All infected cases that are receiving treatment at the time being are Kuwaiti citizens," Egyptian state news agency MENA quoted Deputy Health Minister Buthaina Al Mudhaf as saying at a Thursday press conference.
Earlier this week, Kuwait's health ministry issued a memo to all airlines working in Kuwait International Airport, instructing them to impose precautionary procedures on all passengers arriving from Egypt.
They were instructed to check passengers’ health conditions and send them to quarantine if they had a high temperature, in an attempt to limit the rapidly spreading virus.
Last Monday, Egyptian cabinet spokesman Nader Saad dismissed reports Kuwait's government had suspended the issuing of visas to Egyptians as part of its coronavirus prevention measures.
“The Kuwaiti ambassador to Cairo was contacted in this respect and he denied issuing any decision concerning stopping or suspending issuing visas to Egyptians," Saad told Sada Al-Balad channel in a phone interview.
Kuwait reported two new cases on Thursday, bringing the country's total number of confirmed cases to 58, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
The virus, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, has killed over 3,000 people, mostly in China, and infected more than 93,000 others, according to the latest updates from the World Health Organization (WHO).
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