UAE warns residents against violation of social distancing rules

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has issued a warning to all the residents to strictly follow the rules of social distancing as the country’s number of cases continued to increase, saying that the latest coronavirus cases were spread by four families who performed Taraweeh prayers in the Emirates.

The UAE government health officials also said a rise in case numbers was also expected after the increase in testing. More than 25,000 people are being tested every day in the Emirates.

On Monday, the UAE government spokesperson Dr Amna Al Shamsi revealed at a press conference new cases of coronavirus infections among four families which did not adhere to precautionary measures and social distancing and gathered for Taraweeh prayers spreading the COVID-19 virus among the family members who are now placed under quarantine.

The UAE Council has already said that Taraweeh prayers should be performed at home as all prayers centres are closed. The council warned against the congregations of prayers and termed it “endangering lives” that is forbidden in Islam.

While, the UAE health sector spokeswomen Dr Farida Al Hosani said safety measures would remain in place until at least the end of the month and called on the public to adhere to them. She called on the public to avoid gatherings and distributing food as that increases chances of spread of the coronavirus. She suggested that people could donate money to charities that are helping low-income families.

On Tuesday, the accelerated investigative measures resulted in the detection of 783 new coronavirus cases among various nationalities, all of whom are in a stable condition and receiving the necessary care. Now, the total number of infections in the country, according to the UAE ministry of health, have reached 19,661. The total number of deaths has now reached 203 in the emirates while more than 6,000 have recovered from the virus with more than 1.3 million tests completed. Now 28.5 percent of patients have recovered, according to the authorities.