Permits for business events in Dubai have been temporarily suspended as part of the city’s efforts to take precautionary measures against Coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19)

“In line with ongoing efforts to safeguard public health, the Department of Economic Development in Dubai temporarily pauses the issuance of all business events permits (conferences, exhibitions, meetings) till the end of March 2020,” according to a statement issued today.

Fifteen new cases of COVID-19 were announced yesterday taking the total count to 113. The new cases are all being monitored and in stable condition. They belong to different nationalities, including one individual each from Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, USA, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, and Bangladesh, in addition to two persons each from Britain and Spain.

Since the outbreak, the government has taken a number of public safety measures across sectors to contain the spreading of COVID-19, including ramping up of virus testing. As of yesterday, 127,000 individuals had been tested for coronavirus in the UAE, according to the Ministry of Health and Prevention.

Image Credit: WAM.AE

According to a WAM report, UAE is now leading global efforts to ensure the mitigation of the pandemic, given the data on COVID-19 testing per capita. When analysing the number of swab tests conducted per capita, the UAE total has exceeded 13,020 tests per one million people, the report added.