Category: Coronavirus

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The British School of Kuwait (@bsk_kw) on Mar 28, 2020 at 4:14am PDT

Some British School of Kuwait band students got together virtually and performed the Kuwait National anthem online as part of a virtual ensemble. Check out the video above.

Yesterday the Kuwait Municipality announced that starting today you can only get your coffee delivered. Up until yesterday you could still pick up a coffee from your favorite coffee shop or use their drive-thru service. I’m guessing the reason behind this decision is that having your morning coffee isn’t considered essential and so no reason for you to leave the house or wait in a busy line just to get it. On the bright side, most coffee shops are now on the delivery apps and Arabica have started delivering hot coffees as well.

I’ve been checking Kuwait’s official COVID 19 website daily to monitor the number of Coronavirus cases that get published daily and just a few moments ago they published that there were 0 new cases to report. It had already been on a decline for the past few days and I really hope we continue at this pace. Also:

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus on Wednesday commended Kuwait’s response to the novel coronavirus, especially in view of transparency and reporting.

Speaking to KUNA, Ghebreyesus also lauded Kuwait’s close coordination with the WHO over the fight against the virus, known as COVID-19, pointing out the role of the organization’s regional office in this regard.

He said the Kuwaiti government has a long experience in controlling respiratory malfunctions, citing its response to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) as a relevant unequivocal paradigm. Source

I really hope people don’t start thinking everything is OK now. I’ve noticed a lot more people out during the day and I’m worried this is gonna cause the number of cases to increase again or stricter rules being put in place. The local influencer Concept15 had a funny but serious bit on Snapchat the other day (video above) where he talks about how people are treating the situation like Ramadan, where you can do whatever you want before 5 and then after 5 you avoid Corona. We’re going to end up in a full 24-hour curfew at this rate. Stay at home people it’s not a vacation…

Update: They reupdated the website again and it now shows 13 new cases not 0 🙁

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by مركز الشيخ جابر الأحمد الثقافي (@jacc_kw) on Mar 25, 2020 at 11:11am PDT

The song above was created for JACC by a bunch of local musicians whom played their parts individually while in isolation in their homes.

A couple of days ago my friend was telling me that she went to her local Co-op and spotted the chairs outside with people sitting and waiting to get in. So she went up to the guy in charge and asked him where she should wait. He then asked her if she was Kuwaiti and when she said yes he told her she didn’t have to wait and they let her in. This morning I read a post on reddit about a similar situation where they were also letting Kuwaitis enter without having to wait in line while expats were forced to wait. It doesn’t seem to be happening at all co-ops but it’s still pretty messed up that it’s even happening. It’s like every time I feel like the rift between expats and locals closes, something like this happens to open it up again.

I was out on the balcony awhile ago during the curfew because there was a loud noise down the street. A large group of people were yelling Allahu Akbar (out their windows I’m guessing) so I took out my phone to try and record it when I noticed an undercover cop car coming down the street. I had seen three guys standing under their building so I knew things might get interesting and decided to record the cops. As expected they ended up spotting and then catching the guys.

They didn’t arrest them, they let them go but not sure if they gave them a warning or took their ID cards or something. It’s pretty cool to see my back streets being patrolled during the curfew and with unmarked vehicles which is pretty smart.

So yesterday was the first day of the curfew and it actually wasn’t bad at all. I live in a commercial area of Salmiya so it’s always busy with people out and about and cars always backed up on my street. It’s generally fairly noisy but not last night. Last night my neighborhood was very quiet which made me realize, this is probably how it feels like living in a normal residential area. I’ve not really experienced that since I’ve lived on the exact same busy street all my life so it was a nice change.

The best part of the evening was getting videos on Whatsapp of cops pulling people over who were out past the curfew. I took a bunch of those videos and clipped them all together so you can check them out above. I also added a funny one at the end.

Another thing I enjoyed doing was watching videos people were taking of the empty streets from their balcony. It would have been cool if we had live street webcams but since we don’t you could use the “Snap Map” feature in Snapchat instead. A few people also flew their drones yesterday to capture video of this never before seen situation like the one below.

Overall not bad for Day 1, now just 21 days to go.

As part of the new safety measures, they’re limiting the number of people inside co-op’s at any one time, and every customer will also have their temperature taken at the entrance. The picture above was taken at the Mishref Co-op where they’ve set up chairs outside for customers waiting to enter the supermarket.

I know why they implemented a curfew for us, I think it’s great that they did, but it’s still gonna suck. For someone who is usually constantly out and about, since the public holiday started I’ve spent 99% of my time at home working during my work hours and then playing videogames and watching TV for the rest of the day.

But, whenever I felt like I needed to reset, I’d hop in my car and just go for a long drive. Now I won’t have that freedom anymore. It sounds like something small, but it was my way of coping with the whole thing and it helped me not feel like I was stuck at home.

Like with everyone (I’m assuming), it’s been pretty difficult having to adjust to this new lifestyle. My eating habits have changed, I no longer exercise, I don’t see people and now I’ve got three more weeks of this left at least. I’m gonna end up like Tom Hanks in Castaway at this pace.

How is everyone else coping with all this? Are some of you still going in to work or is everyone now working from home?

Qortoba Co-op are sterilizing all the shopping carts after use and then covering the handles with a plastic seal. I love how everyone is adapting to the current situation and fairly quickly too.

Thanks Aisha

Because there are fewer people on the roads and fewer factories working right now, the air quality in Kuwait has to be the best I’ve ever seen compared to 358 “Hazardous” which was the highest I’ve seen it reach. Source

A lot of you don’t know this but for the past two and a half years I’ve been working in the restaurant industry. It’s a really challenging field and I’m working harder than I have ever done but I’m also loving every minute of it. Right now the restaurant industry all over the world is facing a major crisis. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of restaurants have had to stop operating dine-in and those who offer delivery have had their sales drop considerably.

I’m still ordering food in as I usually do and in the rare occasion when I need to get out of the house, I’m going and picking up the food myself. But, a lot of people have stopped ordering and that’s really hurting restaurants (of all sizes). I’m trying to do my part in trying to support local restaurants and with the number of discounts and offers right now it’s a good time to be a customer. Below are some of my favorite places which I’m supporting:

Delivery
Abby Shawaya – Best pulled chicken sandwiches (musa7ab)*
China Kitchen – My favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant
CHKN – Best fried chicken sandwiches in the world* (I’m serious)
Clean Eats – My favorite vegan restaurant
Enab Beirut – They’re one of my favorite Lebanese delivery places
Frankies – One of the hottest breakfast spots in town now delivers
KAU – One of my favorite burger places right now (order the truffle burger)
Lavan – My favorite Indian restaurant now also deliver
Momo Zaa – The Bhutanese dumpling place now deliver
Leila Min Lebnen – My other favorite Lebanese restaurant
Lucky Bun – Another favorite burger place (order the Ooh Mami with an extra patty)
Madison & Heig – Probably the best bakery in town right now
Roto – Delicious wood-fired rotisserie chicken
Rustic Thai Kitchen – Authentic and delicious Thai food
Tampopo – Best Ramen in town easily!
Vigonovo – Still my favorite Italian restaurant in Kuwait
Wachamean – Order the Wacha Burger with an extra patty

Pick up
BBT – I love this tiny burger place
Shawarma Shakir – Their spicy meat shawerma is the best

You can also support your favorite restaurants by following them on instagram and writing reviews about them. If you have a favorite little place you want to support, let us know about them in the comments below and what kind of food they serve.

*One of the brands I work for

If you’re bored at home and looking for a good book to read, Aafaq Bookstore have an offer at the moment in response to the Coronavirus situation where they will deliver any book to you for free, no minimum order required. Their website is still under construction but you can use it, for now, to browse for books and then call them or whatsapp them to place the order. They have over 1,400 English books available and over 2,400 Arabic ones. Their website is aafaqbookstore.com and to place an order call or whatsapp them on 55524066

This offer is valid until March 29th when the public holiday is over.

Update: Their website is now live! Use the code KAFD for free delivery in Kuwait except for Sabah Al-Ahmad residential area and Ali Sabah Al-Salem.

I was talking to my friends in Dubai on Thursday letting them know what was going on in Kuwait and to my surprise, life was still normal over there. People were still going to work, going out drinking and partying, going to the gym as if there wasn’t a global pandemic.

It made me realize how on top of things Kuwait is right now. We were one of the first countries to shut down schools, we were given a public holiday not because we have an emergency but because they were being proactive in avoiding an emergency. Over the weekend cops were blocking off access to the beach so people don’t end up hanging out there and last night they announced the closure of malls and hair salons.

Things aren’t perfect for sure, but I can’t think of any other country I’d rather be in right now during this pandemic.