Kuwait's 91-year-old ruler was taken to the hospital for a medical check-up, the state-run news agency of the oil-rich nation reported on Saturday.
Sheik Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was in "good health," reported the KUNA news agency, citing a statement from the Diwan minister in the region.
The crown prince of Kuwait will temporarily exercise some of the constitutional duties of the ruling emir, per a royal order, KUNA disclosed without providing any details.
In September last year, Sheikh Sabah underwent medical tests moments after he arrived in the United States, which led to a meeting with United States President Donald Trump being canceled.
The Kuwaiti emir had his appendix removed in 2002, two years after having a pacemaker implanted. He underwent a urinary tract surgery in the United States in 2007.
In August 2019, Kuwait acknowledged the ruler suffered an undisclosed medical setback that required him to be hospitalized. That took place after visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif commented on Twitter that he was "praying for Emir's speedy recovery," without further elaborating.
Sheikh Sabah has been Kuwait's ruler since January 2006. He has campaigned for diplomacy to solve regional problems, like the ongoing boycott of Qatar by four Arab states, and played host to major donor meetings for war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq.
The governor of the central bank of Kuwait released a statement Saturday following news of the sheik's hospitalization and underscored the stability of the dinar currency, which is pegged to a weighted basket of the nation's major trading allies.
On Friday, the S&P Global Ratings changed Kuwait's outlook from "stable" to "negative," pointing out that it estimates the nation's main liquidity buffer, the General Reserve Fund, to be not enough to cover the government's budget shortfall.
Kuwait has been trying to boost its finances which have been heavily impacted by low prices of oil and the ongoing global health crisis and has been rapidly running down the GRF.
Kuwait has seen more than 58,000 coronavirus infections and 400 fatalities in the tiny country's 4.1 million population. According to its health officials, more than 49,000 people have recovered from the disease and the COVID-19 sickness that it causes.
Meanwhile, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz called the Emir on the telephone, on Saturday, to inquire about his health. Sheikh Sabah thanked King Salman for his call and expressed his gratitude for his kind gesture, which reflects the depth of the historic ties between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
