KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait’s Health Ministry on Friday reported 885 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total infections in the country to 12,860, official news agency KUNA said, quoting the ministry’s spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad.

The ministry also announced eight more deaths from COVID-19, taking the total number of fatalities in Kuwait to 96.

A total of 189 more patients have recovered from the disease, bringing to 3,640 the total recoveries in the country, according to the ministry.

Among the newly detected cases, there are 267 Egyptians, 184 Indians, 115 Bangladeshis, 109 Kuwait nationals and the rest are of different other nationalities.

The ministry spokesman said that Kuwait began testing for the virus in January 2020 and continues its efforts to expand the testing capacity with 4,074 new screenings performed over the past 24 hours, braining the total number of tests to 236,004 so far.

Kuwait has recently seen a rise in COVID-19 cases, prompting the government to impose a total nationwide curfew. The 24-hour curfew will continue until May 30. — SG