UAE counts cost of keeping tourism sector open as new virus cases surge

DESPITE a world-leading vaccine programme, the United Arab Emirates is struggling to contain surging Covid infections, driven in part by reluctance to shut down its vital tourism sector.

The UAE announced yesterday that 95,783 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were given in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of people who had received a first dose to over 2.1million.

More than 1 per cent of the population was vaccinated in the past week, meaning the country is now leading the world in the speed of its roll-out, according to Dr Said Al Dhaheri, spokesman for the UAE’S National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority.

With over 21 per cent of the UAE’S population having received a first jab, only Israel has vaccinated a higher proportion of its people. But infection rates in the UAE have nearly tripled in the past month, with authorities reporting 3,506 new cases yesterday, the ninth day of record high infections.

Six new deaths were reported, increasing the country’s toll to 762.

The restriction is a particular blow for the tourism-dependent emirate of Dubai, which is home to about 240,000 British expatriates. Since reopening for tourism last July, the emirate has billed itself as the perfect pandemic holiday destination. Beach clubs are advertising pool parties and restaurants are hosting unlimited food and drink brunches.

Hotel occupancy rates reached 71 per cent in December, according to data provider STR. But the cost of staying open meant that the more contagious strain of the coronavirus, first detected in the UK in mid-december, had arrived in the UAE by the end of last year.

When the UAE launched its national vaccination campaign in December, it hoped a speedy roll-out could contain the outbreak.

Using both the Chinese Sinopharm and the Pfizer-biontech vaccines, the government aims to have vaccinated half the population by the end of March.

In the meantime, it has implemented other measures to contain the outbreak, including requiring government employees who have not yet received two doses of the vaccine to take a PCR test weekly.