Dubai: Dubai’s major parks will be closed during the Eid Al Fitr holidays as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus, an official said.
Dawoud Al Hajri, Director General of Dubai Municipality, said the municipality decided to close all major parks during Eid days to prevent large gatherings.
The major parks in Dubai include Mushrif, Al Mamzar, Al Khor, Zabeel and Al Safa park.
“We preferred closing major parks in the emirate during Eid days as a precautionary measure to prevent gatherings between people,” he said. “Staying home is the best option for the safety of the public,” he added during a virtual meeting session over Ramadan with a number of government officials last Sunday.
On Saturday, Dubai Municipality said that 70 parks will reopen in Dubai on May 18 in the second of a three-phased approach that was scheduled to conclude on May 25.
After closing parks on March 15 as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Dubai Municipality decided to restart public parks and recreational facilities in Dubai in a phased manner, with careful monitoring and follow-up of the developments.
“The municipality facilities in the residential areas will be open. We disinfect all parks and yards and will gradually re-open them. Visitors should follow precautionary measures for their safety,” he added.
Al Hajri said that municipality teams disinfected 262 areas in Dubai and they were still working to repeat the sterlisation programme in some areas with high density of population.
Treatment of medical waste
Al Hajri said that since the outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in March, Dubai has treated between six to seven tonnes of medical wastes on an average every day.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, Dubai Municipality has managed medical wastes collected from both public and private clinics, hospitals, health-care centres and laboratories, and transported them directly to the Jebel Ali Hazardous Waste Treatment Facility affiliated with Dubai Municipality, in order to treat them on a daily basis in central medical waste treatment systems designated for this purpose,” Al Hajri informed.
“The facility [in Jebel Ali] is equipped with the best international environmental systems to ensure the protection of the environment,” he added.
