Coronavirus: 661 new cases of Covid-19 in UAE

Mass testing across the country is credited with saving lives and allowing the economy to reopen gradually. All photos by Victor Besa / The National

A mass testing campaign aims to screen all workers living in Abu Dhabi’s Mussaffah area

The testing is free of cost, said the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi.

Free transportation is provided to take workers from their accommodation to testing centres.

The initiative announced by the Abu Dhabi Media Office, said no legal action will be taken against those who are living in the emirate on expired visas.

“Testing campaign and sanitisation [are] to be conducted in gradual phases, and in coordination with targeted blocks,” said the Abu Dhabi Media Office.

The main medical registration area at the Seha facility in Mussaffah.

Another queue sends visitors to a line where they are processed by handing over their Emirates ID card and phone number.

A staff member of the center directs a workers to the next area at the screening centre.

A high body temperature of 38°C could indicate signs of fever, a common coronavirus symptom.

Visitors must complete a brief questionnaire to help nurses understand the health status of those waiting in line.

On arrival in Mussaffah, workers walk through a sanitisation mist shower before entering the tented clinic.

Workers and residents queue in front of the sanitising gate before they can enter the main tent screening centre.

An additional 661 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the UAE on Sunday.

The infections were identified from 37,000 tests conducted over the past 24 hours.

Authorities said 386 patients had recovered, making the total number of people to have beaten the virus 17,932.

Two deaths also brought the country's toll to 264. The UAE has recorded 34,557 cases of the deadly virus since the first cases were identified in late January.

The announcement came as the global number of cases exceeded six million. Two thirds of these were recorded in Europe and the US.

The virus is now spreading fastest in Latin America, with more than 45,000 cases in the last 24 hours.

Locally, an early-detection strategy has seen more than two million people tested for Covid-19.

Authorities in Abu Dhabi have expanded their free testing campaign by sending medical teams target areas with large populations to identify and isolate coronavirus cases before they can spread.

Stay-home orders were eased across most of the country at the weekend with every emirate but Dubai told they can move freely between 6am and 10pm. In Dubai, the stay-home order is between 11pm to 6am but people may exercise outdoors after fajr prayers [at 4.30am] as long as there were no more than five people gathering.

On Saturday, Dr Farida Al Hosani, UAE health sector spokeswoman, said the easing of measures was being done with the expectation that the public would act responsibly and adhere to advice from authorities.

“The current circumstances oblige us to follow a new lifestyle, based on adherence to preventive measures, and to be careful to follow health advice that can enhance the prevention,” she said.

“We are at a critical stage in fighting Covid-19. We are living in one community and the safety of each individual depends on the safety of the other. All of us must be responsible in order to overcome this challenge."