Dubai Police seize 400,000 counterfeit face masks
▶ Glasgow acts after ‘a number’ of positive cases were detected among arrivals since the beginning of the year
Police in Dubai foiled a plot to sell more than 400,000 counterfeit face masks, as opportunistic fraudsters sought to cash in on the Covid-19 pandemic.
Officers said the public health crisis prompted a new wave of crime, with offenders trying to exploit demand for protective wear.
Three Asian men were arrested last year after storing the masks, along with 25,000 gloves, at three villas while attempting to sell them on WhatsApp.
“This was a new criminal trend brought on by the Covid- 19 pandemic which Dubai Police was capable of detecting and foiling,” said Brig Jamal Al Jallaf, director of the Criminal Investigation Department at Dubai Police.
“The suspects took advantage of people’s fear and need for medical protective gear during the outbreak.”
The effects of the outbreak continue to be felt almost a year since the UAE reported its first cases.
Several private schools in Dubai closed temporarily because of a rise in Covid-19 cases among pupils.
Yesterday, Jumeirah College sent a letter to parents informing them the campus would close for a week from today.
Marc Morris, principal at the Gems Education school, said the decision was made in response to a “spike in cases experienced during the first week of term”.
The school confirmed to The National that all lessons would be moved online from today.
Though a provisional backto-school date had been set for January 19, this could change depending on case numbers.
Dubai English Speaking School said it would open for in-person classes today after a week of online-only learning because of Covid-19 infection rates in the country. A spokesman for the Taaleem group said all nine of its schools were operating as normal.
The UAE has recorded a rise in Covid-19 infections since the start of the new year.
Daily new cases have remained above 2,000 for six days running, hitting their highest mark on Saturday, when 2,998 new infections were announced.
Scotland has imposed a mandatory 10- day quarantine on passengers arriving from Dubai.
Authorities said the country introduced the rule, which came into effect at 4am yesterday, after “a number” of positive cases were detected in travellers flying into Glasgow since the start of the year.
The news came after a case of Covid-19 was confirmed among Scotland’s Celtic Football Club squad, two days after they returned from a six-day training camp in Dubai last week.
“This preventive action addresses the significant rise in cases of coronavirus and the increase in the numbers of cases testing positive in Scotland,” the Scottish government said.
The announcement came on the day that Qatar was added to Abu Dhabi’s updated list of countries and destinations from which travellers can enter the emirate without having to quarantine.
The list is updated every two weeks and Oman, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have been added since it was first published in December.
It followed the signing of Al Ula Statement at last week’s GCC summit in Saudi Arabia. Leaders of the six- member group agreed to strengthen Gulf, Arab and Islamic solidarity and stability.
The UAE last week said it would reopen air, land and sea borders with Qatar from Saturday.
The country, and fellow GCC states Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, along with Egypt, cut ties with Doha in 2017 over its support for extremist groups.
Meanwhile, the UAE reported 2,404 new coronavirus cases yesterday, taking the number of infections since the pandemic began to 232,982.
There were 2,252 new recoveries, bringing the number of patients who beat the virus to 208,366.
The new cases were identified after 133,458 additional tests were carried out in the past 24 hours.
The country has conducted more than 22.5 million tests since the beginning of the outbreak.
The UAE strengthened its vaccination campaign in recent days by approving both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm doses.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health and Prevention said 80,683 people completed their Covid-19 vaccination. The distribution rate of the vaccine is now 10.99 doses for every 100 people. The UAE plans to vaccinate 50 per cent of the population by the end of the first quarter.
As the country continues to open up while adhering to safety rules, a plan for the safe return of public school pupils to classrooms across the UAE has also been set out by the Ministry of Education.
The ministry said some pupils would begin returning to in-person classes from Sunday – the beginning of the third week of second term – after two weeks of distance learning.
Private schools in Abu Dhabi have been distance learning for the first two weeks of term. There has been no announcement yet on when pupils will return to the classrooms.
Private schools in Dubai are open “as usual”, regulators said, with parents given the choice to continue distance learning or send their children back to the classrooms.
Scottish government says the action ‘addresses the significant rise in cases of coronavirus and the increase in the numbers of cases testing positive in Scotland’