Documentary reveals the inside story of Dubai’s Covid-19 fight
▶ Discovery channel series follows the authorities’ life-saving decisions
From the very early days it was made very clear that decisions would be informed by science and guided by data PROF ALAWI ALSHEIKH-ALI Dubai Health Authority
A two-part documentary has charted Dubai’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Covid-19: Dubai provides insights into the critical decisions made by the authorities to protect public health as the coronavirus rapidly spread around the globe.
The series, the first episode of which was broadcast on Saturday on Discovery, begins with the establishment of the Covid-19 Command and Control Centre on March 30, 2020.
It concludes a little more than a year later, after a vaccination campaign slashed hospital admission rates.
The second episode will air on Saturday at 10pm.
Produced in collaboration with the government, Covid-19: Dubai features shots of empty streets, beaches and playgrounds at the height of the pandemic, interspersed with interviews with those who led the emirate’s response.
“From the very early days of the command and control centre, it was made very clear decisions would be informed by science and guided by data,” says Prof Alawi Alsheikh-Ali, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Group for Dubai’s Covid-19 Command and Control Centre and the deputy director of the Dubai Health Authority.
One of the biggest decisions the command centre made early on was to place the Naif and Al Ras areas, home to the Gold Souq, under a 24-hour lockdown.
“We got reports of many residents who were infected with the virus,” says Brig Dr Tariq Tahlak, head of Naif Police Station. “It was necessary to contain the area in order to mitigate the spread to other parts of Dubai.”
The decision was made at 6pm and by midnight, the entire area was locked down, he says.
“What I learnt here exceeds what I have learnt over many years,” he says.
“Most of our operations are to tackle crime. This particular crisis was different. When this crisis hit, we were faced with a bigger challenge. We were fighting an unknown and invisible enemy.”
The densely populated area was put under a strict fourweek stay-at-home order from March 31 to April 26, to curb the spread of the virus.
Dubai adopted a proactive approach in the early months of the pandemic, including the temporary introduction of stay-home orders and a move to close schools and switch to remote learning.
“It was a sort of tactical pause so we could ramp up testing capacity. We could ramp up hospital capacity,” Dr Ali says.
“We could educate ourselves and the community about the virus. And then we open up gradually.”
The documentary also covers the effect the pandemic had on the economy, through interviews with businesses.
Covid-19: Dubai also explores the effects the pandemic had on Ramadan, and the joy people felt returning to mosques after stay-home orders were lifted on June 24, 2020.
“The movement restrictions were a tactic. They could never be a strategy to get over this pandemic,” Dr Ali says.
Vaccinations, however, were considered a strategy to exit the pandemic, he says.
“If you think about it, it’s such an amazing achievement for humanity and for science, that within a year of discovering a new virus you have vaccines that are safe and effective in protecting human beings against this disease.
“I don’t think we appreciate how massive a victory that is for science. The UAE and Dubai jumped on that.”
In April last year, the production crew returned to Mediclinic Parkview Hospital, 440 days after the Emirates recorded its first case.
There were only two patients suffering from Covid-19 in its intensive care unit.
“I think we run out of words thanking our frontliners and the heroes in managing this pandemic,” says Dr Amer Sharif, head of Dubai’s Covid-19 Command and Control Centre, and vice chancellor of Mohammed bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences.
“Without them we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
Replays of the first episode are available on Discovery+, Jawwy TV and Starz Play.