Kuwaiti authorities have arrested a Kuwait citizen for assaulting an Egyptian expatriate working as a cashier in a store in the Gulf country, Egypt's emigration ministry announced Sunday.

The incident surfaced two days earlier when a two-minute video went viral showing the Kuwaiti national slapping the Egyptian worker three times while on duty before a number of other store workers and customers intervened to stop the assault.

The video sparked anger on social media among users who called on Egyptian authorities to take action on the assault. The case has been referred to a misdemeanour court, Egypt's ministry statement added.

Minister of Emigration Nabila Makram praised Kuwaiti authorities for treating all workers on its lands equally. Egypt's consul general in Kuwait said it was an isolated incident and does not represent relations between the two countries.

Last year a Kuwaiti criminal court upheld a 17-year jail term against a Kuwaiti citizen who was captured in a shocking video severely beating an Egyptian national in 2017.

Hundreds of Egyptian expatriates stranded in the country were repatriated recently due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The numbers of Egyptians in Kuwait reached around 445,000 in August 2018, according to Egypt’s Ministry of Manpower.