Dubai Police bust second yacht party over flouting COVID-19 protocols

Dubai: Dubai Police suspended a yacht operator for a month and Dh50,000 fine for organising a private yacht party without complying with the COVID-19 precautionary measures.

Dubai Police, in cooperation with Dubai Tourism, fined each participant Dh15,000.

According to Dubai Police, the private yacht party violated social distance rules. The rules regarding wearing of masks was also flouted.

This is the second yacht party which was busted by the police as the authorities continue camaign against violatiors of COVID-19 safety guidelines. On Sunday this week, Dubai Police busted another yacht party and issued Dh50,000 fine for the operator.

Also this week, Dubai Police in cooperation with the Department of Tourism, issued Dh50,000 fine for hosting a party in an apartment in Dubai. The fine was issued for not following the COVID-19 protocol including not observing social distancing and not wearing face masks. Each participant was also issued a fine of Dh15,000.

In a series of new measures to curb the spread of the virus, Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management put into place new rules that went into effect from February 2.

Among the directives, pubs and bars will be closed, whereas hotels will be required to operate at 70 per cent of their total capacity.

Restaurants and cafes are required to close by 1am. They will also not be allowed to organise any entertainment activities on their premises.

Recently, the Dubai Police encouraged the public to report any violations of COVID-19 precautionary measures via its call centre (901) or ‘Police Eye’ service.

On Sunday, it revealed that it had received around 1,000 reports from the public on COVID-19 violations in one week from January 31 – February 6.