Move FM Global News

DUBAI, UAE – A seven-week ban on older people and children visiting malls, cinemas, stand-alone shops and supermarkets, in Dubai has ended.

The Dubai government announced on Thursday that people aged 60 and over, and children other than teenagers will no longer be prohibited from entering malls, cinemas and shops.

The two age groups have also had the ban on their visiting museums, cultural centres, public libraries, art galleries, beaches and public parks lifted.

The lifting of the ban in the emirate takes effect from Thursday.

It is unclear whether the two age groups will be allowed to visit gymnasiums, which the ban also extended to.

The move will come as welcome relief to older people and younger kids, who have been virtually in home detention since the ban was put in place in early May. The lifting of the restriction will also be a boost to the economy as retailers have been without the patronage of two large sectors of the population, and even those able to shop and visit the prohibited venues have in many cases been unable to do so as they would be leaving children and older relatives unattended at home.

For the rest of the UAE the ban remains in place but has been modified for older people. It will as of Thursday only apply to those over the age of seventy. Children 12 and under will still be denied entry to all the venues. It is unknown what has been driving the decisions to profile sectors of the population based on age. The UAE is believed to be the only country to be applying such restrictions.

The UAE in announcing on a daily basis the number of new cases, the number of deaths, and recoveries, as well as the number of people being tested, have not provided any breakdown of age groups, gender or nationalities of victims. Almost 90% of the country’s population consists of ex-pats.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the UAE says it has been determined to examine the largest possible number of citizens and residents with the average daily tests in the UAE increasing from 25,000 to 40,000.

The country, impressively, has now tested more than three million people, possible the highest in the world on a per capita basis.

Addressing Wednesday’s official UAE government daily briefing, Dr. Amna Al Dahak Al Shamsi, said that more than 39,000 additional Covid19 tests were conducted among UAE citizens and residents in the previous 24 hours, resulting in the detection of 382 new cases and taking the total number of infections in the country to 43,364.

She noted an additional 672 individuals have fully recovered from Covid-19, bringing the total number of recoveries to more than 29,537, adding that a total of 13,532 individuals are still being treated, most of whom are in stable condition.

She also announced the death of two individuals as a result of Covid-19 complications, taking the total number of fatalities in the country to 295.

Dr. Al Shamsi, referring to the update of guidelines which regulate the operation of shopping malls and retail outlets, reiterated that ‘effective from June 18, only people over 70 years old, instead of 60 years old, are not allowed inside shopping malls, cooperative societies, restaurants, and sports facilities, adding that children aged less than 12 years old will continue to be denied access into these destinations.’