Kuwait has added 33 countries to a list of Covid-19 ‘high-risk’ countries where the virus is considered to be ‘widespread’, local media reported.

The high-risk list now has 68 countries in total, with the UAE, US, Mozambique, South Africa, Turkey and Germany among the nations added to it, Kuwait Times reported.

The other countries added to the list include: Angola, Bolivia, Botswana, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Eswatini, French Guiana, Guyana, Ireland, Japan, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Paraguay, Portugal, Seychelles, Surinam, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Some of the countries already on the ‘high-risk’ list include China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Spain, Sri Lanka, Syria, Yemen and the UK.

Kuwait, which had imposed a two-week ban on the entry of non-nationals into the country starting February 7, extended the suspension indefinitely on Sunday, February 21.

Meanwhile Kuwaitis returning back to the country will have to undergo mandatory quarantine for seven days and home quarantine for another seven days.

All passengers arriving in Kuwait must also produce a negative Covid-19 PCR result conducted in the previous 72 hours.

On Saturday, Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had said that travellers arriving on direct flights from high risk countries would have to undergo institutional quarantine in a local hotels for 14 days.

Passengers from other countries will have to quarantine institutionally for one week and for another week at home, it said.