Dubai limits social events, live entertainment and surgeries

Our correspondent

Dubai’s Supreme Committee for Crisis and Disaster Management said on January 22 that attendance at social events, including weddings and private parties, will be limited. The new order comes after a high number of incidents of non-compliance with COVID-19 precautionary measures and increasing cases of infection.

Only first-degree relatives – parents, siblings and children – will be allowed at weddings, and not more than 10 people can attend the function.

The ruling will come into effect on January 27. It applies to events in hotels as well as home gatherings.

The UAE reported 3,552 cases of the disease on January 22 taking the total number of cases to 270,810 after 170,694 tests were carried out across the country. While 3,945 patients recovered from the virus, taking the total number of recoveries to 243,267, ten people died on the day and the death toll has reached 776 in all.

Non-essential surgery has been suspended until February 19 in Dubai. The decision was an extension of the one made in March 2020 in order to protect at-risk patients and release equipment such as ventilators.

Live entertainment in hotels and restaurants in Dubai will be halted because of the surge in cases and breaches found during inspections, Dubai Tourism has noted. According to Dubai Media Office, the decision was made to ensure “public health and safety” and “all permits issued will be on hold effective immediately”.