Alpha Whiskey
Good morning
I write to you from my desk in the UAE. It’s been a thoroughly wonderful winter with temperatures between 22 and 30°C, but I fear that that will change soon as we start the climb into the late 40s over summer.
As a major hub for trade and people-moving, the UAE seemed to react fast to the Covid problem, immediately ramping up testing (about 8-10 hours between test and result) and introducing an app that recorded your status (vaccinated, exempt, test results etc).
The UAE way of life and the significant proportion of the workforce who are foreign (and rely on UAE to provide wages to live by and to allot home) means that the population is very compliant – from a Western point of view anyway. I would not say that this is due to fear from the virus; rather it is due to fear of severe government response, from harsh fines to deportation.
Until last week masks were required almost everywhere; there were strict limits on the number of people allowed in motor vehicles and there was no ability to get into shopping centres without a Green pass (fully vaccinated or exempt and in-date test). Grey or Red alerts mean no entry. I ‘think’ that you can get by with just being tested every 14 days but I have no evidence of that. Likewise, I am not certain about the ability to move between emirates (as this is a federal system).
We are now only required to wear masks indoors and I understand that on-arrival resting of travellers is no longer required – but again this can change depending upon the emirate.
Dubai was a lot more liberal than Abu Dhabi, an obvious stance when one considers the tourism, economic activity and of course the Expo, but it is clear that things are loosening up across the board.
Regards
Alpha Whiskey
