One night in late January, news broke of the first coronavirus case in the UAE.
Inside Al Safadi Restaurant on Rigga Street, patrons continued to smoke their shisha pipes and share platters of grilled meats.
When patrons stepped outside, Rigga Street was transformed. Within two hours of the news, everyone wore a face mask and the street’s relaxed atmosphere turned sombre.
In late March, the boulevard known for its street life and restaurants, in the older part of Dubai, grew dark as a four-week lockdown started and businesses closed.
But the lifting of movement restrictions, unseasonable cool weather and Ramadan iftars have brought people back to the boulevard’s famed restaurants and cafes.
In the evening, people gather on benches in small groups to sip tea and chat under leafy trees.
On Tuesday night, a street artist gathered onlookers as he sketched portraits. Near by, a young girl played the wooden flute.
Life had returned to Rigga Street.
Saeed El Orabi and his cousin Mustafa sat down at a busy restaurant on Tuesday night to share an iftar of stewed potatoes, molokhia and chilled hibiscus juice.
Mr El Orabi returned home to Rigga Street a few days earlier after a month’s duty as a security guard at a field hospital on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.
To celebrate, he invited his cousin to Rigga Street.
“We took a chance because of this amazing weather,” said Mr El Orabi, 38. “And we cannot cook. I only know how to cook tea.”
He has taken a 30 per cent pay cut because of the pandemic and three of his cousins went home to Egypt in late March on the last flight out.
Mr El Orabi has not considered leaving the UAE because the pandemic’s consequences are global.
“It’s around the world, not only here,” he said.
Tens of thousands of residents have gone home after losing work.
Dark shopfronts punctuate Rigga Street’s bright lights – florists, travel agencies, shisha cafes, small hotels and nightclubs that may never reopen.
Others are open, waiting for customers who never appear.
“There is no business all day,” said Akshay Korwani, 24, a clerk at Mega Star Jewellers.
“We call customers and tell them about offers. They’re not even interested. They don’t even have a salary right now.”
-
Syrian Muslims wearing face masks listen to the Friday prayer sermon at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, following the authorities' decision to allow prayers on Fridays in disinfected mosques with strict social distancing and protection measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. President Bashar al-Assad warned earlier this month of a "catastrophe" in war-battered Syria if the easing of lockdown measures against coronavirus is mishandled. AFP -
Shi'ite Muslims visit the Imam Ali shrine during the holy month of Ramadan, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq. REUTERS -
People observe social distancing on a metro carriage in Istanbul, a few hours before the weekend lockdown because of the coronavirus. Teenagers were able to leave their homes for the first time in 42 days on Friday, as their turn came for a few hours of respite from Turkey's coronavirus lockdowns. Turkey has subjected people aged 65 and over and those younger than 20, to a curfew for the past several weeks. AP Photo -
People walk on Istiklal street, the main shopping street in Istanbul, a few hours before the weekend lockdown due to the coronavirus. Teenagers were able to leave their homes for the first time in 42 days on Friday, as their turn came for a few hours of respite from Turkey's coronavirus lockdowns. Turkey has subjected people aged 65 and over and those younger than 20, to a curfew for the past several weeks. AP Photo -
A fighter loyal to Yemen's Huthi rebels acting as security, looks on while wearing a face mask and latex gloves and slinging a Kalashnikov assault rifle as volunteers part of a community-led initiative to prevent the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus disease gather in Yemen's capital Sanaa. AFP -
Algerian Food Bank volunteers, wearing face masks due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, prepare packages of food aid as part of the "SOLIRAM" solidarity campaign to assist families in need during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, at the "20 August" (20 Aout 1955) Stadium in the capital Algiers. AFP -
A Palestinian refugee elderly woman, who witnessed the 1948 Nakba, looks out of her house's entrance door at Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, as Palestinians marked the 72nd anniversary of "Nakba" (Day of Catastrophe) inside their homes due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. The "Nakba" commemorates the mass displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. AFP -
A sign reminds customers to stay at a safe distance from each other at a bakery in the nearly deserted Hayat mall in the Saudi capital Riyadh, after the lockdown measures due to the novel coronavirus were partially eased by the authorities. AFP -
People gather to buy hot sugar drenched 'bomboloni' donut, in the village of Sidi Bou Said near Tunis, Tunisia. After four days in Tunisia without COVID-19 infections, the Tunisian government has decided to ease the curfew from 11 pm to five am. This decision prompted people to leave their homes after breaking their fast. This is the case here in Sidi Bou Saïd, the Tunisians took advantage of the open donut shops to taste this typical pastry from the city. EPA -
Several people show their passports at the Beni-Enzar border crossing in Melilla, Spain. Some 200 Moroccans have been able to return to their country this Friday after being trapped in Melilla for two months by the border closure that the Alawite authorities decreed on March 13 as a result of the coronavirus health crisis. EPA
At the entrance of Rigga Street, the gates of the Port Saeed mosque remain shut.
During Ramadan, the mosque usually fills with 1,700 worshippers and hundreds more spill on to the surrounding streets to break their fast and pray together at sunset.
This year, the call to prayer commands worshippers to stay home.
“We pray in our homes and, praise to God, the rewards will be the same,” said Mohammed Al Hasan, 27, son of the mosque’s imam.
“Allah is testing us right now and the whole Earth is a place for prayer.”
On Tuesday evening, Mr Al Hasan stood beside his father at the mosque’s mihrab as his father made a call to prayer that reverberated through the empty hall.
They broke their fast with water and dates at the back of the vacant mosque.
Mr Al Hasan is also an imam, at a nearby mosque, and a chemical engineer.
These days, he counsels members of his congregation over WhatsApp and performs prayers with his family of five in their home behind the mosque.
They considers it a moral obligation to stay home.
It is a busier scene down the road outside the Diva Gents Saloon, where half a dozen barbers wait for customers.
Business is down 70 per cent. Few people have the disposable income for a haircut.
“Their wives are doing it,” says Ammar Abdul Qadr, 32, a Syrian barber. “They’re watching programmes on YouTube.”
Mr Abdul Qadr was reluctant to return to work. His wife, children and father live in Umm Al Quwain and he has stopped visiting them to keep them safe. He stays with four Syrian colleagues on Rigga Street.
The barbershop chairs were empty but clients will return, Mr Abdul Qadr said.
“They’ll come back because people miss socialising," he said.
"A barber is a friend and they’ll come to say hello and socialising will bring them back. They love kinship and need friendship.”
His colleague, Ali Talib, nodded: “You’ll come back here one day and you’ll feel the atmosphere of Rigga again.”
