UAE Minister of State for Foreign trade,Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, recently announced that in the light of recent surge in Covid-19 cases after the emergence of the Omicron variant, the country will not go into full lockdown, but instead will impose safety measures to contain the spread of the virus, according to media reports.
Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, told the media, “Omicron is way less impactful than Delta. Even during Delta, we hadn’t locked down the country (because) balance has been there (between economy and health sectors). Even with futurist variants when it comes to coronavirus, we will not go back to a full lockdown of the country. We celebrated our Golden Jubilee in 2021 and welcomed the world to Expo 2020. We showed the world that it can’t continue with the lockdowns. We have to come back to norms ASAP, and balance between health and economy has to be ensured.”
Back in 2020, the UAE had announced countrywide lockdown and travel restrictions after breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the UAE was also the first country to reopen by applying strict safety and precautionary measures throughout the country. In 2021, the Minister announced that 2021 was a critical and encouraging year, and was overall positive for the country’s economy, and 2022 also started with a similar note.
Al Zeyoudi added, “Thus, we did significant changes in our regulatory system and the way we are running the businesses. During the last few months, we announced 100 per cent foreign ownership, changed the workweek to match with the rest of the world, upgraded the employment laws to create more flexibility and showed our commitments that we are welcoming the world to the UAE.”