UAE Leads Arab World, Advances To 8th Position Globally In Bloomberg's COVID Resilience Ranking: Government Media Briefing

The UAE advanced to the eighth position globally and maintained its lead in the Arab region in the Bloomberg index of the most resilient countries that managed the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, rising three places compared to the previous ranking and leading major countries, such as China, Finland, Denmark, Canada and Switzerland.

The UAE resilience score is 69.7 point in the COVID-19 Resilience Ranking, which uses a wide range of data to capture where the pandemic is being handled most effectively, with the least social and economic disruption from mortality and testing rates to vaccine access and freedom of movement. Bloomberg’s COVID Resilience Ranking is a snapshot of how the pandemic is playing out in major economies.

During the UAE Government’s media briefing on the coronavirus crisis, Dr. Saif Al Dhaheri, Official Spokesperson of the National Crisis and Emergency Management Authority (NCEMA), stressed that the UAE attained these advanced rankings due to the precautionary measures it adopted at the start of the pandemic and its ability to ensure continuity of business.

The success of the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign in achieving its objectives underscores the strengthening of the UAE’s health sector, he added, noting that over 10 million vaccine doses have been administered at a distribution rate of 104.51 doses for every 100 persons while over 43 million coronavirus tests have been performed.

''The UAE has proven that it is one of the most successful model in managing the pandemic.'' He highlighted the fact that one of the country’s achievements in the battle against the pandemic was making the vaccine available to everyone free of cost at all the centres in the country. This requires the cooperation of everyone because they all have to take the vaccine and help the country achieve an acquired immunity for the entire population.

Dr. Al Dhaheri noted that since the beginning of the crisis the UAE community, both citizens and residents, have cooperated with the national efforts to fight this pandemic by adhering to precautionary measures. He thanked everyone who has chosen to get vaccinated and protect the population and urged all members of the community to take the vaccine. ''We will continue this path and work all together towards recovery,'' he added.

He stressed that all the internationally approved vaccines are available free of charge including, Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sputnik V, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, for citizens and residents, provided they do not have any medical conditions that prevent them from taking it.

Dr. Al Dhaheri said that the performance of the Tahajud (night prayers) in the last 10 days in the Holy Month of Ramadan will take place according to the precautionary measures similar to the Taraweeh prayers conditions, noting that the period of the Tahajud prayers should not exceed 30 minutes, from midnight to 00:30 in all the emirates.

He affirmed that mosques will be closed immediately after prayers.

He pointed out that the UAE Fatwa Council encourages people, most notably elderly people, and those with chronic diseases, and women, from among citizens and residents, to perform these prayers at home.

He announced as well that the fans will be back into stadium at a maximum of 30 percent of the respective stadium capacity to attend the final of the UAE President's Cup 2021 on Sunday May 16 while taking all precautionary measures into consideration.

The final will be the first official event to be attended only by those vaccinated during the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials provided that they present a negative PCR test result and show the status of gold star or 'E' on ALHOSN UAE app, the official COVID-19 testing channel for health authorities, to be permitted to enter. The test must be done in the last 48 hours ahead of the match.

The initiative will be used to consider the return of the fans back into the stadiums for the next stage of the joint World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers that will be hosted by the UAE.

At the end of the media briefing, he urged the fans to get vaccinated as part of the efforts made at the country level to combat and put an end to the pandemic.