Kuwait has changed preventive health measures for expatriates, Gulf News reported, as part of the state’s measures to update regulations and tighten health monitoring to protect the people.

Anyone applying for a residency permit or iqama is considered physically unfit if a hepatitis C test shows an “indeterminate” result and as such he/she is not eligible to take a PCR test, according to the update.

But if a resident expatriate undergoes two hepatitis C tests with at least four weeks in between and they prove “indeterminate”, the applicant is allowed to take a PCR test. In case the PCR proves positive, he/she then will be deemed physically unfit.

If the result is negative, the applicant will be allowed to have the residency permit renewed for one year after which a new PCR test will be conducted. A negative test would mean the applicant is physically fit.