COVID-19: UAE announces reopening of nurseries

Dubai: The Ministry of Education and National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority has announced the reopening of nurseries in the UAE, under special conditions, precautionary and preventive measures.

The set of precautionary measures will be applied to ensure the health and safety of children and the workers.

This will include setting up procedures for entering the facility, including measuring temperatures on entry and regulating the movement of staff and parents' entry into the nursery.

Periodic clinical examination of the workers will also be made mandatory. The screening will be repeated every two weeks. The health status of children and staff in the nursery will also be regularly monitored.

All sterilization and hygiene protocols related to running nurseries will be strictly applied, taking into account the physical spacing of 1.5 metres in addition to the density ratio. Separate groups will be created for each age group and the upper limit for each group will be determined to ensure the safety of all.

The Ministry of Education and concerned authorities will assess and ensure the readiness of nurseries and childcare centers and the extent to which all the requirements mentioned in the national protocol are applied.

The competent authorities will also inspect the nurseries periodically to ensure that the precautionary and preventive measures are applied and followed. Penalties will be imposed on any institution that violates the national protocol.

Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge has issued guidelines and measures for reopening nurseries in the emirate.

Under the new guidelines, all nurseries shall be subjected to health and safety inspections and require a no-objection certificate from the department before reopening.

All teaching and administrative staff must pass mandatory COVID-19 online training.