On Monday, Dubai ordered bars to close until the end of the month to suppress an increase in cases of coronavirus after visitors flocked over the holiday season to the emirate.
In a statement, the closures, effective from Tuesday, are among a number of steps “taken in response to rising violations of preventive measures,” the authorities said.
Indoor stadiums will see their capacity cut by half, including cinemas and sports venues.
At 70 percent of capacity, hotels, swimming pools and private beaches must run.
The large shopping malls in Dubai also have to limit tourists to 70% of the normal traffic.
It is mandatory for restaurants and cafes to close by 1.00 am.
“Penalties will be strictly imposed on anyone found posing a risk to public health by deliberately disregarding preventive measures or not observing them properly,” the Crisis and Disaster Management Committee said.
Without shutting its doors, Dubai has tried to handle the pandemic and reopened to tourism in July.
But though masks and social distancing are mandatory, a drastic rise in cases in the new year has not been stopped.
In recent days, rules have been progressively tightened and non-essential surgery has been halted in hospitals.
Since the pandemic started, the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is part, has reported 859 deaths from Covid-19.
Infection cases registered daily in the UAE rose to almost 4,000 recently, but were down to 2,730. on Monday.
The UAE says some 3.4 million vaccine doses have already been administered to its population of around 10 million.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
