Bill Gates: The next outbreak? We’re not ready

Too bad no one listened to him four years ago.....

Kuwait on lock Down

'1. All flights to and from Kuwait suspended until further notice (limited trips to Kuwaitis and their family)
2. Public and Pvt sector holidays from 12th Mar till 26th Mar
3. No gatherings/meeting to avoid infection
4. Restaurants, Cafes, halls, shopping centers, Pvt health institute closed
5. Banks closed from 12th Mar till 29th Mar (ATMS will be open)'

Total chaos has hit Kuwait after the above announcement was made, traffic, people running to super markets, massive atm lines and long lines at the gas stations. I tried going to a supermarket but went back home due to the crowds, pushing and ridiculous lines.

For those who didn't have the virus, we should all be checked now after going out to these places. It only takes 1 person to spread the virus like wild fire and this was the perfect storm.

Why was this decision made so suddenly? Is there something going on that we don't know about?
It seems really suspicious that the whole country would be put into hysteria to control the virus when we were doing our daily jobs and hiding in our homes.

 This was the crowd in the supermarket, no thanks, I came back home! What happens when the atms run out of money? Who will refill it if the banks are close?? This is going to get ugly fast!

It really seems like a zombie movie is playing.

Rules for teachers, report schools for Threats

KUWAIT: On Thursday Kuwait Times interviewed Sanad Al-Mutairi, Manager of Private Education Department within the Ministry of Education, to clarify some issues related to private schools. Kuwait Times has received many complaints regarding the school closures. One school principal threatened to cut the salaries of any teacher not in Kuwait during the period of the closures.

Other schools have been forcing teachers to meet and come to campus despite the closures. Another concern is that some schools may deduct from their teachers’ salaries due to the two weeks, which was a Cabinet decision to suspend schools for students and administrative bodies working in public and private schools and institutes, starting from March 1, until March 12, 2020.

Replaying to that, Mutairi said, “The decision is due to circumstances and a crisis in the country and based on the decision of the Council of Ministers, no school has the right to deduct the two-week suspension of schools from teachers’ salaries.” He advised any teacher that faces problems in this regard to file a complaint to the Private Education Department in order to do the necessary actions toward these schools.

Regarding E-learning that was implemented in some schools, he revealed that his department did not receive any official decision yet. “Although nothing is official, I believe that e-learning in schools will be activated through the so-called ‘educational television’ to make teachers interact with students, and until this moment we have not received any new instructions regarding that,” he said.

“The schools’ e-learning is optional to parents and students and there is no decision yet to obligate both sides. The e-learning now is an agreement with both sides,” he added. Mutairi added that the decision to extend the school suspension is up to the health ministry to make. “Till now the cases are stable in the country, and it is expected that students will back to schools on March 15. But if the situation worsens and the number of cases rises, it is possible to extend the suspension for the educational institutions,” he said.

Some school are considering canceling the spring break to catch up on what was missed. In this regard, Al-Mutairi told Kuwait Times that: “The school does not have the right to cancel the spring break without the approval of the Ministry of Education, An official circular must be issued to approve that decision, and nothing was released yet.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education announced on its official Instagram on Wednesday that teachers and students in Arabic schools (public and private) can use the “Siraj” application to keep on track if they choose to do so. This e-learning platform has not been mandated as a requirement.

The Ministry affirmed that the student and teacher can use the remote study through the educational channel “Siraj” that has been started broadcasting since 2013 where it includes approximately 700 records of reviews and previous exams for high school. Officials from the health and education ministries met to determine the latest preparations for the return to schools, in the context of precautionary measures to counter the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The gatherers agreed to start distributing thermometers to schools from Sunday with two for each school, besides providing nursing bodies for new schools and launching awareness campaigns for students, teachers, and administrative staff to prevent the virus from spreading. LINK

IKEA and a new extension to 360 Mall

After lunch my friend wanted ice cream so I suggested Marble Slab in 360 so we could get ice cream and check out the new IKEA. It's located in the new extension of 360, you cross over on a covered walkway leading you to an airy mall full of plants and greenery. There are several stores open like Addidas, New Balance, Calvin Klein, Polo and a few cafes and restaurants. The food hall has yet to open so in the future there will be more to choose from. 

The IKEA is a mini one level version with a little coffee shop, unfortunately no restaurant or place to get shawerma and hot dogs which is a bit disappointing.

 There was furniture, rugs and some household items but not much to choose from.

One of the beautifully decorated restaurants was a small extension of Dar Hamad, decorated in wood made to look like the roof of old Kuwaiti houses.

There will be a tennis court and Grand Hyatt Hotel opening soon and will be connected to the mall.

'Grand Hyatt Kuwait will offer its visitors 261 standard rooms of 130 square feet (40 square meters) each and will be designed by RTKL architects who already built the iconic 360 Mall, using sophisticated, innovative and unique design and architecture features.'

 The new leisure of the hotel will also include more than 390,000 square feet (120,000 square meters) of luxury shopping markets facilities and a sports Tennis Complex with more than 7.600 seats arenas, with both indoor and outdoor courts for its guests to enjoy.