The Covid-19 Crisis
Covid-19 the virus that started in December 2019, and as of March 2020 it was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. On October 28, 2020, the UAE saw the highest record of infections in a span of 24 hours which was 1400 confirmed cases. As of 29 October 2020, there are 130,336 confirmed cases 126,147 recoveries, and 488 deaths in the UAE, globally there are 44,910,565 confirmed cases, 32,796,82 recoveries, and, 1,181,130 deaths.
The United Arab Emirates National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) announced the National Disinfection Programme, following this program, public areas and buildings, public transportations, and streets will be sterilized and disinfected every night from 26 March to 5 April from 8 pm to 6 am. During the sterilization phase, traffic and public movement are all restricted, and public transport and metro services will be suspended, strictly no one is allowed to be out, and anyone who violates these cautionary measures will have to pay fines and is going to be subjected to penalties. (UAE government portal, 2020)
Schools have closed their buildings to prevent the spread of covid-19 between all the students and teachers and have decided to start an e-learning program where the students join online classes with the teachers in the comfort of their own home. Schools are also preparing for e-learning to continue in September and potentially into next year. (Nationalnews, 2020)
The UAE is pushing forward with attempts to possibly develop two types of Covid-19 vaccines. These vaccines are being tested on more than 15,000 volunteer participators. “We are in the third stage of the study and clinical trials, and all conditions and requirements for the safety of volunteer participants will be fulfilled,” AbdulRahman Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention said. If either vaccine is proved to be safe for everyone and effective, the vaccine trial will move to the manufacturing phase.
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References
Weiseng. (n.d.). United Arab Emirates COVID-19 Corona Tracker. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.coronatracker.com/country/united-arab-emirates/
(n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/justice-safety-and-the-law/handling-the-covid-19-outbreak/national-disinfection-programme
Rizvi, A. (2020, May 10). Coronavirus: UAE schools plan for e-learning to continue into 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/education/coronavirus-uae-schools-plan-for-e-learning-to-continue-into-2021-1.1017154
Gautam, S. (2020, July 14). Coronavirus: UAE conducting human trials for Covid-19 vaccine. Retrieved October 29, 2020, from https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/health/coronavirus-uae-conducting-human-trials-for-covid-19-vaccine-1.1048781
