Kuwait’s Civil Aviation Spokesman Saad Al-Otaibi told Reuters on Saturday that Kuwait has informed EgyptAir, Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways to resume flights to Egypt.

According to Reuters, Al-Otaibi stressed that this step is to facilitate the travel of Egyptians wishing to leave Kuwait to their homeland Egypt.

In August, Kuwait banned commercial flights to 31 countries, including Egypt, which it deemed a high risk due to the spread of the coronavirus.

The list includes Egypt, Pakistan, the Philippines, Lebanon and Sri Lanka, all of which have a large number of expats residing in Kuwait.

Also on Saturday, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anba quoted Kuwaiti official sources as saying that they expect coordination between the Kuwaiti and Egyptian sides to set the date for resuming flights “in the coming days."

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

“The Kuwaiti General Administration of Civil Aviation has sent a letter to EgyptAir stating that Kuwait has no objection on operating return flights to Egypt directly,” the Kuwaiti newspaper quoted.

This, the sources say, is a first and important step to start operating flights in two directions soon after preparing the health requirements and procedures for examinations and institutional quarantine to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Egypt reported 464 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the total infection tally to 120,611 since the outbreak began in mid-February.