SHEIKH MOHAMED SAYS UAE HAS OVERCOME COVID CRISIS
▶ Our lives must go back to normal, with some post-pandemic adjustments, says Crown Prince
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, delivered a message of hope as he declared that the UAE had overcome the Covid-19 crisis.
At a Sea Palace barza yesterday, Sheikh Mohamed said the country had learnt crucial lessons from its fight against the coronavirus.
He said the UAE was in good
condition, but that some adjustments must be made in the post-pandemic age.
“I am blessed to see your kind faces today,” Sheikh Mohamed says in video footage from the gathering, released by state news agency Wam.
“I announce to you that things are good. The health condition in the UAE is good. I would like to affirm to you all that our lives must get back to normal.
“Maybe our habits might change a little. We will adjust and make some changes in
our habits, such as our work, our children’s education or our private lives, such as going out, seeing people and being seen by people.
“We thank God that we have overcome this crisis with our well-being, dignity, safety, health and experiences that have cost us but from which we have learnt a lot.”
He also praised the UAE’s robust response to the pandemic and pointed to the encouraging decline in infection rates in recent months.
Mass testing and one of the world’s fastest vaccination rates have helped the UAE curb the pandemic.
The Emirates has also benefited from having a world-class health system.
On the same day as Sheikh Mohamed’s speech, it was announced that more than 500 doctors in Abu Dhabi had been awarded a golden visa as testament to their work battling the pandemic on the front lines. Golden visas recognise experts in various fields who play a crucial
role in supporting the nation’s progress.
Sheikh Mohamed said that “2020 was difficult and has witnessed great challenges but the UAE, thanks to God, was able to be one of the first countries to emerge from the crisis at a time when some countries faced great difficulties”.
“The number of cases in the country has decreased to less than 500 [a day],” he said. “This is promising and
indicates that Covid-19 is under control and less dangerous than it was.”
The situation is mixed in other parts of the world, with health authorities in some countries still reporting poor vaccination rates.
A World Health Organisation special envoy has said there is “a long way to go” in global efforts to bring the virus under control.
Carl Bildt, an envoy to the Access to Covid Tools Accelerator, which supports the development and equitable distribution of vaccines, told The National he supported the goal to have 70 per cent of the world inoculated by this time next year. He said the road ahead would be difficult.
“We are now sort of roughly at 30 per cent, which means that we are not even halfway to what we would consider the necessary level in order to get the pandemic really under control,” he said.
Mr Bildt, co-chairman of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a former Swedish prime minister, said the vaccination target may need to be increased if new variants emerged.
“At the moment, 70 per cent is what we are aiming at,” he said.