A lot of criticism, filled with straight hate, was directed recently towards Dubai for its “mismanagement of Covid19 situation”. Many of western media “journalists” and “reporters” sitting thousands of miles away from Dubai have been drawing a very incorrect and baseless conclusion of the pandemic situation in Dubai.
Laughably, many of these “journalists” based their reporting on forwarded fake WhatsApp messages about Dubai. Yes, our infection rate has jumped, yes, we have tourists coming in, and yes, we opened our economy; but all with strict safety precautions and strong guidelines in place, backed with solid data to support the gradual opening.
Authorities responsible for implementing these strict safety precautions have been roaming around the city day and night to ensure businesses, people, and the entire system here is adhering to the set guidelines. All violators are dealt with very serious repercussions, ranging from warnings, heavy fines to permanent closures of businesses - even the first timers are not spared.
As of writing this piece, you cannot fly into Dubai without a recent negative PCR, everyone here wears a mask, gatherings of all kind are only permitted with a handful attendees, restaurants and cafes do not operate dine-in without maintaining physical distancing or barriers between the tables and all schools offer distant learning options to students. In fact, many schools did not even resume in-person classes and continued offering distant learning. The increase in COVID-19 cases is a regional trend that many countries are now witnessing. This was simply expected due to the spread of the newly mutated U.K. and other variants of the virus.
And to top it up, Dubai has already kicked off an aggressive mass vaccination campaign. As I write this piece, the UAE has already administered more than 4.2 million doses in the country, becoming the second top nation in the world in terms of doses administered per 100 people of population.
So, if all of this is within the norms then where is the problem? Where is the heat coming from? The answer is very simple, it is not really the COVID-19 that is the issue, COVID-19 is just a scape goat. It is Dubai’s unbeaten success stories that are hurting many. It is the UAE’s winning strategy that is bringing sleepless nights to its foes. Winning cards such as:
• A giant magnet to world talent and entrepreneurs
• The world’s second fastest vaccine roll-out
• Launch of Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant
• Spearheading the Human Fraternity program
• The Abraham Accords- a warm peace with Israel
• And an attempt of first Arab interplanetary mission to Mars
All of this in less than 50 years are just indigestible to Dubai’s critics.
While spiced up reports on Dubai’s nightlife are shown in the western media, Dubai’s Emirates Airlines, DP World, Dubai Airport and International Humanitarian Center have collaborated to set up the Vaccine Logistics Alliance, a massive joint program to help transport, store, and distribute 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses across the globe. While the hungry and bankrupt media platforms in the west are accusing Dubai of COVID-19 spread in a bid to sell stories; the leadership here is completely undistracted and fully focused on our future goals, not just for the country, but for the whole of humanity.
The leadership in the UAE thinks thousands of light years ahead of any other government in the world, and currently is busy calculating the exact gravity on the surface of the moon in preparation for the next space mission, the Emirates Lunar Mission, after the Hope Probe; and not paying attention to Dubai Paparazzi.
