KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait detected 631 new coronavirus cases and five COVID19 deaths in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of cases in the country to 49,303, the ministry of health said on Saturday.

Health authorities recorded five related deaths during the same period, putting overall count of fatalities due to infection with the pathogen at 365 since its outbreak in the country months ago.

Official spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdullah Al-Sanad, said in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) some of these cases had contacted infected persons and the source of the other infections was being traced.

The new cases comprised 386 Kuwaiti nationals and 245 expatriates, Dr. Al-Sanad pointed out.

Giving a breakdown of the cases' distribution per areas, Dr. Al-Sanad said that 197 of the patients were registered in Al-Ahmadi, 142 in Al-Farwaniya, 129 in Al-Jahra, 104 in Hawally and 59 Al-Assima (the capital).

Currently, there were 158 patients receiving treatment in intensive care units and count of the confirmed cases that remained under medical treatment amounted to 8,995, Dr. Al-Sanad revealed.

The health authorities conducted 3,443 swab tests in the past 24 hours, raising the whole count to 402,941, Dr. Al-Sanad added.

Earlier in the day, the Health Ministry announced the recovery of 667 COVID-19 patients, bringing the tally to 39,943.

Last week, Kuwait allowed malls to reopen as it slowlly ease its restrictions. Dozens of individuals flocked to the malls and shopping centers.

The country’s national airways announced that it would be resuming commercial flights starting from Aug. 1. — Agencies