95% surge in public trust in COVID countermeasures: UAE Government media briefing on COVID-19 pandemic

ABU DHABI, 14th September, 2021 Nasser Al Zaabi, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of Community Development, said the preliminary results of a survey measuring the public opinion on the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and returning to normalcy revealed a significant rise in optimism among community members in August 2021 to 94 percent, while trust levels among community members in the UAE government's COVID countermeasures rose to 95 percent. During the UAE Government media briefing on the latest COVID-19 pandemic developments, Al Zaabi stressed the UAE had proved its success in terms of safety and security. All government authorities have combined to achieve the national and community objective: to make the UAE among the first countries to recover from the pandemic, by providing everything required to return to normalcy, including the vaccine. The country’s sectors have also proven their flexibility and readiness to address challenges, by setting plans and strategies to contain the pandemic’s possible repercussions, he added, noting that according to a recent recovery developments report, 15 national community authorities launched 65 initiatives as part of the strategic goal, entitled, "Strengthening community resilience in the recovery from the multiple impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic." "Under the framework of the strategic index, entitled, "Optimism about Living Conditions," we concluded that we have achieved positive results in terms of increasing the community’s confidence in the country’s recovery levels, including a rate of return of occasions at 95 percent out of the target 100 percent, and a rate of resumption of religious activities in places of worship by 100 percent, and the percentage of the community members’ confidence in the country’s recovery measures at 53 percent, exceeding the target of 50 percent," Al Zaabi further added. "Regarding the community’s optimism, we achieved a result of 103 percent in the index covering community members who feel they can fulfil their basic needs, achieving 59 percent out of the target of 60 percent, while in terms of the level of optimism about the return to normalcy, we achieved 54 percent, exceeding the goal of 50 percent," he further said. The survey focused on the UAE Government’s procedures and initiatives to ensure the safe return to normalcy, he explained, noting that the results indicated 90 percent of people support the gradual return to mosques and other places of