Coronavirus: UAE will be 'fastest country to recover', says Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

Sheikh Mohammed says major new projects coming in 2021 as Dubai prepares to host Gitex technology show this week

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, is already a popular figure on social media. Wam

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid pledged on Saturday that the Emirates would be the fastest country to recover in the world from the Covid-19 pandemic and will begin next year, in which the UAE will mark its 50th anniversary, with a number of major new projects.

Dubai is preparing to host the Gitex technology exhibition this week, a critical moment for the emirate's business and trade environment.

“Gitex will be the most important and realistic global technical event in 2020 and the UAE will be the fastest country to recover in the world,” said Sheikh Mohammed, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.

“Our institutions have proven their ability to adapt. We will conclude 2020 with a global event and we will start 2021 with a series of projects and major initiatives. [Next year is] our 50th anniversary and our golden jubilee, and it will be different from all years.”

From Sunday, 1,200 companies from 60 countries will display the latest technology at the 40th Gitex.

“[The event will have] the participation of 200 important technology investment companies and 350 speakers in artificial intelligence, smart cities, financial technology, the future of education and health, and the future of remote work,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

Gitex 2020 is one of the first major events in the emirate that people will be able to attend physically and it will run from December 6 to 9 at the World Trade Centre amid strict Covid-19 precautionary safety measures.

Dubai has slowly resumed all business and trade activities, such as exhibitions and conferences.

The emirate held its first business conference in July, nearly four months after events were postponed or cancelled in March to control the spread of the coronavirus.

The UAE recorded 1,214 Covid-19 cases on Saturday, bringing its total number of infections to 175,276.

A further 670 people were given the all clear, taking the recovery tally to 158,498.

Three patients died, pushing the country's death toll to 589.

The latest cases were identified after 83,146 additional tests were carried out in the past 24 hours.

The UAE has carried out more 17.3 million tests since the outbreak began as part of a mass screening strategy aimed to limit the spread of the virus.

The number of active cases in the Emirates is 16,189.

On Saturday, the price of PCR tests was reduced to Dh85 at all Seha testing centers in Abu Dhabi to encourage more people to get tested for Covid-19.

Globally there have been about 66 million reported cases and more than 1.5 million deaths. Almost 46 million people have recovered.

Gitex 2019 in pictures