UAE Now Leading the World in Coronavirus Covid 19 Testing Reports UK Guardian Newspaper

The Guardian newspaper in the UK is reporting that the UAE is now leading the world in the fight back against Coronavirus Covid-19 in “now testing more of its population for Coronavirus per head than any other country.” The newspaper reports that the UAE is now “on track, with the help of Chinese technology, to scale up the level of testing to reach the bulk of the population” of 9 million UAE residents and citizens. This scale of testing is the first in the world of this scale to be operational outside of China.

To date the UAE government has carried out 220,000 laboratory tests representing 22,900 tests per million people. Drive through testing is available in Abu Dhabi free of cost for all those showing symptoms of Coronavirus Covid 19. The testing Centre can test 600 people per day over a 12 hour period. A further 8 test sites are in the process of opening.

Group 42, an Abu Dhabi based technology firm, and the Chinese global genomics leader BGI, launch of a mass-throughput laboratory are now able to process tens of thousands real-time “reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction”, (RT-PCR) tests per day. This scale of testing is the first in the world of this scale to be operational outside of China.

Peng Xiao, Chief Executive of G42, said:

“This high throughput lab provides the scale and firepower to enable all people in Abu Dhabi and the UAE to access the most reliable PCR tests, which are also provided by G42 in partnership with BGI. We thank the UAE leadership’s support in protecting the health and wellbeing of the country’s residents against this pandemic.”

The Guardian newspaper reports:

“Overall the UAE in the final week of March was testing at rate of just over 10,000 per day, The speed with which the UAE, a wealthy oil Gulf state, has moved to harness Chinese technology raises questions as to why some western countries have been unable to source testing kits and set up infrastructure with comparable speed.”

As of 31 March 2020, the UAE has only 664 confirmed cases of Coronavirus Covid 19 and a total number of 6 deaths. At this stage of the curve, the UAE is tracking at a lower rate than equivalent countries because of the swift action of the UAE government to lockdown the country. Beyond the school closure programme, key evidence of the UAE government’s commitment to flattening the curve can be found in the announcement on 31 March of the complete lockdown of Dubai’s Al Ras area. This will see residents not being able to leave their homes and no entrance to the area from other areas of the emirate with businesses closed and metro and road closures area-wide.

 

Coronavirus Covid-19 is invisible making protecting yourself difficult. The five actions parents and students can take to protect themselves and others is to:

• (1) Wash your hands for a minimum of 25 seconds;
• (2) Avoid physical or social proximity with others and maintain a minimum 2M distance at all times;
• (3) Do not touch your face;
• (4) Be kind;
• (5) Stay home.

To report suspected cases of Coronavirus Covid-19, parents are asked to call:

• The Dubai Health Authority: 800 342
• The Ministry of Health and Prevention: 800 11111.
• The Department of Health Estijaba service: 800 1717

Banks welcome calls from parents who are struggling as a result of the UAE lockdown and are expected to respond compassionately.

For parents in Abu Dhabi facing a crisis in looking after their children during the closure of nursery schools an emergency hotline is available on: +971 58 5886570 or the toll-free number 80051115.

For parents in Dubai, the KHDA is providing comprehensive support for parents here.

The link to the original story as it appeared in the Guardian newspaper can be found on this page here.

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