UAE bars private parties and social gatherings during New Year, National Day due to COVID-19
- 17 Nov 2020
Gulf Today, Staff Reporter
The UAE Government said private parties and social gatherings would not be allowed in the country in the coming festive season due to the coronavirus.
The government revealed details during a media briefing on the latest development on the coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Saif Al Dhaheri, the official spokesman for the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) said, “With UAE National Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve celebrations approaching, we stress the importance of adhering to precautionary and preventive health and safety measures during all activities to tackle COVID-19.”
The authorities also mentioned that private parties and gatherings would not be allowed, areas for the isolation of sick individuals must be provided and entry and exit routes at all facilities should be clearly marked using posters.
For physical distancing, Dhaheri said the rules stressed the importance of maintaining a distance of two metres between people.
“The rules stress the need for everyone to follow existing safety measures, not to hold gatherings or marches, prohibit the circulation, distribution/exchange of celebratory gifts & food and call for the appointment of a person to monitor and enforce all health & safety measures.”
The rules recommend holding remote digital celebrations only and encourage reservations in advance for approved events lasting no more than 3-4 hours.
The authorities said the law calls for continuous cleaning and sterilisation each hour for all public facilities.
The health ministry on Tuesday said it conducted 105,024 additional COVID-19 tests over the past 24 hours, which helped in the detection of 1,255 new coronavirus cases in the country.
The new cases bring the total number of recorded cases in the UAE to 152,809.
The officials announced 4 deaths due to COVID-19 complications, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 538.