Dubai: Strict inspections and tests are continually being done in Dubai to ensure that no SARS-like viruses and other common diseases enter the emirate, a Dubai Municipality official has said.

Zuhoor Hussain Al Sabbagh, Director of Public Health Services Department at the municipality, said the civic body’s veterinary section continues the precautionary measures in collaboration with the Anti-Common Diseases Team in Dubai with the participation of Health Authority, Police and Ports.

“These measures are effectively applied on a daily basis where all suspected parcels and consignments from certain countries are seized for strict inspection and tests in addition to the periodical inspections carried out by the officials in livestock production facilities and farms in the emirate of Dubai,” Al Sabbagh said.

“This comes with regard to the warnings recently issued by the World Health Organisation on the emergence of new strains of SARS [Corona Virus], and the return of bird flu after multiple cases and deaths as a result of new SARS strain infection, fear of spreading the disease on a larger scale as well as re-emergence of bird flu in Germany,” she added.

WHO issued an international alert in September when the new strain of the virus called novel coronavirus (NCoV) infected a Qatari man who had recently visited Saudi Arabia. WHO said in its latest bulletin that the organisation has received a total of 13 confirmed cases of human infection with NCoV, including seven deaths.

The Ministry of Health earlier this month said that no cases of the NCov virus have been recorded in the UAE yet.

Regular inspections are conducted by the Anti-Common Diseases Team composed of representatives from Dubai Health Authority, Dubai Police, Civil Defence, Armed Forces, Dubai Customs, Dubai Ambulance, Dubai Ports and Free Zone, Ministry of Environment and Water, and General Authority of Civil Aviation.

The team coordinates and unifies efforts among federal government agencies and local authorities to develop mechanisms for monitoring common diseases in the emirate, which infect animals and transmitted to humans or vice versa. It also aims to develop programmes and plans for control and prevent it as soon as detected or suspected occurrence and to raise awareness of citizens and workers in health and education field.

The civic body formed a similar team that worked to fight common diseases when news of the Bird Flu spread in 2005.