Dubai’s dynamism helps it beat the odds

Life indoors, isolation, and restricted movement for work and play cannot be a permanent feature in people’s lives. The world has realised the time has come to start living, albeit differently, cautiously and remotely. The pandemic may have made people germaphobes, running away from a viral strain that is threatening the way of life that they had grown used to. As a global city, Dubai is keen to return to a redefined normal. The new order will be what the city aspires for, and it has a headstart over other cities in the recovery process. Life may not be the same but how residents respond to what is in store will define how they deal with it. Malls, the metro, entertainment avenues, gyms, sports academies, nonessential medical services will work for longer hours from Wednesday. It is a bold move that speaks of the city’s confidence to weather rough times. It successfully contained the spread of the pandemic and is now raring to go. Living with the coronavirus will be challenging but the government and residents are acting in unison. The government has done its part and the people have behaved responsibly to expedite easing of measures. Many residents have endured pain, loss, inconvenience, and isolation over two months. Celebration have been muted and special moments like Eid were spent with family, at home. Doctors, nurses, and other frontline workers have spent sleepless nights treating patients and cleaning the streets.

Indeed, the city is cautious, but the fear has subsided. In its place has emerged new dynamism that makes the city special and a towering success. People believe it can be done and the government of Dubai trusts them to act responsibly and keep the health of the community at heart in their daily interaction and behaviour. The virus is still among us. That is the new reality, but business must return to ensure livelihoods are not put at risk. The World Health Organization has warned that there could be a second peak of coronavirus cases. “We’re still very much in a phase where the disease is actually on the way up,” said Dr Mike Ryan of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, on Monday. The UAE has risen to the challenge by ramping up testing to over 30,000 patients per day. Officials said two million tests have been done. Universal testing could be the goal. A virus-free country is not hard to fathom if this rate of testing continues. There is fresh excitement in the air as Dubai returns to work — a renewed dynamism that will spread across the country and the world. It will be a new beginning, different from the era before the pandemic, yet it will has worth the wait after the agony it has cause people.