Read also: Abu Dhabi updates Al Hosn app entry rules for malls, restaurants, hotels and supermarkets
Covid-19 screening will soon be mandatory to visit most public places in Abu Dhabi.
The "green pass" system on Al Hosn app will be used for entry to a number of indoor and outdoor venues from Tuesday.
They include shopping malls and large supermarkets, gyms, hotels and facilities within, as well as public parks and beaches, private beaches and swimming pools, entertainment centres, cinemas, museums, restaurants and cafes.
Anyone who has received the second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine at least four weeks prior can achieve green status on the app for 30 days after presenting a negative PCR test.
Those who have not been vaccinated will be marked green for three days and can enter venues only during this period.
The system applies to people aged 16 and above.
The National finds out where you can get tested in Abu Dhabi and how much it will cost.
The cost of a Covid-19 PCR test
In March, the cost of taking a PCR test was reduced to Dh65 from Dh85 at sites operated by Seha, Abu Dhabi’s public hospital operator.
Most private clinics charge the same or slightly more, including Mediclinic and Biogenix centres.
Results can take less than 24 hours, but most clinics state they can take up to 48 hours.
There are lots of options for testing.
Seha facilities
Seha runs testing centres across the emirate.
There are several drive-through centres in Abu Dhabi. They include Zayed Sports City, the Corniche, Al Bahia and Al Shamkha. Others include Al Hili and Al Masoudi, both in Al Ain.
Testing at Seha centres is free for Emiratis, residents over 50 and those suffering from chronic diseases, pregnant women, those showing coronavirus symptoms, people with disabilities, and domestic workers employed in the households of UAE citizens.
Bookings can be made on the Seha app, which is free to download.
Inside malls
Several malls have testing locations.
Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Centre and Yas Clinic Group offer PCR testing in the Galleria Mall and Yas Mall, respectively.
Appointments are not necessary.
Private clinics
There is no shortage of options for Covid-19 screening in private facilities.
They include, but are not limited to:
- Biogenix Labs, which is run by G42, is open round the clock in Masdar City. It offers a standard 24-hour service, but the turnaround time can be reduced for a small fee.
- Capital Health Screening Centre operates two sites at Mussafah and Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium.
Most hospitals conduct screening.
It is available at Healthpoint Abu Dhabi, and Mediclinic offers tests at several of its branches, including:
- Mediclinic Airport Road Hospital
- Mediclinic Al Noor Hospital
- Mediclinic Baniyas
- Mediclinic Mamoura
- Mediclinic Khalifa City
- Mediclinic Al Ain Hospital
- Mediclinic Al Jowhara Hospital, Al Ain
THE BIO
Age: 33
Favourite quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going” Winston Churchill
Favourite breed of dog: All of them. I can’t possibly pick a favourite.
Favourite place in the UAE: The Stray Dogs Centre in Umm Al Quwain. It sounds predictable, but it honestly is my favourite place to spend time. Surrounded by hundreds of dogs that love you - what could possibly be better than that?
Favourite colour: All the colours that dogs come in
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
Skoda Superb Specs
Engine: 2-litre TSI petrol
Power: 190hp
Torque: 320Nm
Price: From Dh147,000
Available: Now
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
