Coronavirus: frontline nurses describe testing passengers at Abu Dhabi airport


Nick Webster
  • English
  • Arabic

Standing at the entry gates to the nation, brave volunteer nurses at Abu Dhabi International Airport put themselves first as they screened hundreds of passengers for Covid-19.

In a military-style operation, a team of nine experienced nurses from India, Pakistan and the Philippines swabbed hundreds of passengers for two weeks before letting them enter the UAE.

Despite uncertainty and fear about the global threat from the novel coronavirus, selfless carers stepped forward to “do their duty”.

One night, faced with a tsunami of passengers, nurses said they tested more than 4,200 for the virus.

Elsa Rani James, 35, an Indian nursing supervisor who has been 14 years in the job, was compelled to help when her employer VPS Healthcare offered to help out with airport volunteers.

“I chose to do this job, to support society and this country,” said Ms James, who has a husband and three young children.

“I accepted I may get the virus by doing this work, and I did not want to give it to my family.

“There was no fear inside me.”

Armed with nasal-swab testing kits and little more than surgical gowns, masks and gloves for protection, Ms James was one of nine nurses contracted by airport health provider Response Plus Medical to test all arriving passengers.

The operation began in early March, as authorities tried to contain the spread of the global pandemic.

While airports have become the new front line in the war on coronavirus, the nurses wanted only to perform their jobs swiftly and efficiently.

“We explained to every passenger how the test would work before inserting a nasal swab,” said Filipino Melody Bacor, 30, who has been nursing for seven years.

“It was important to explain that the test would not hurt.”

Nurses would mark each sample tube with the details of the passengers, then placed them into a cool-box to be taken away for analysis.

Those who tested positive were later tracked down and quarantined.

Like her colleagues, Ms Bacor was tested every couple of days during her two-week airport stint.

I chose to do this job, to support society and this country

All the nurses were considered high-risk but are virus-free.

“I wanted to be sure I was safe and not likely to pass it on,” she said.

“Some cabin crew were reluctant to be tested, as they were travelling so much.

“I tried to tell them it was for their own good. Some were panicking as they were flying twice a day.”

Tens of thousands of swabs were taken from passengers arriving at terminals one, two and three.

George Masih, 41, from Pakistan and a nurse of 17 years, worked for 13 days straight, testing for Covid-19.

He took special precautions to reduce potential exposure.

“This is the first time I have experienced anything like this,” he said.

“We could only sleep for two or three hours between shifts.

“I would go home, then immediately put my clothes into the wash and have a bath in hot water.

“We were constantly changing our protective equipment during the 12-hour shift.”

Passengers arriving from the UK were impressed with the precautionary measures, as British airports had yet to implement similar testing procedures.

“They were very surprised we were testing them, and asked why we were being so cautious as there was no such testing happening when they left home,” Mr Masih said.

“That has all changed now.”

Before being tested, travellers showed their boarding passes at a registration desk, then queued up to be checked.

Nurses would screen arriving passengers by taking their temperature and swab, before stamping passports with stickers to allow them to continue their journey.

The process would take anything from two to four hours and reports came back less than 48 hours later.

Maneesh Babu, 36, an Indian nurse with 13 years’ experience, worked for 11 consecutive days during the rigorous clampdown.

“Like all of us, I wanted to volunteer and help where we were needed most,” he said.

“When terminal one was closed, all the flights were arriving at terminal three, so we were overrun with passengers.

“When I went home after my shift, I did not use the lift and took the stairs. I did not want to contaminate anyone else in case I was infected.”

One flight from Syria was particularly difficult to manage as all passengers were eager to be tested.

A team of nine nurses worked night shifts from 6pm to 6am, alternating with an equivalent 12-hour routine during the day.

Kasserine Libot, 29, a nurse from the Philippines who qualified in 2013, worked the last night stint on Thursday before nurses from the Department of Health took over airport operations.

“Most of us have family and children at home, so it was something we had to think carefully about,” she said.

“We took the oath of nursing, so we have to stick to that to help our community. Otherwise, what is the point of doing what we do?

“The airport officials would tell us what plane was landing, how many passengers to expect and where they had flown in from so we knew what to expect.

“We had to wear personal protective equipment at all times – it was very uncomfortable.”

The nurses have been relocated to the new Burjeel Medical City hospital in Mohamed Bin Zayed City.

A basement pathology laboratory capable of turning around results of up to 100 nasal swabs a day is available to medics.

Anjali Nair, 27, an Indian nurse for two years, is glad to be back in the relative safety of the cancer hospital, as all inbound, outbound and transit flights will be suspended within the next 48 hours.

“I felt no stress with seeing a planeload of passengers arriving from Iran, China or Italy where we knew there were many cases of the virus,” she said.

“We tried to stay calm at all times. The airport is a very different place now.”

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

A State of Passion

Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi

Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah

Rating: 4/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE CLOWN OF GAZA

Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah 

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Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
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Expo details

Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia

The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.

It is expected to attract 25 million visits

Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.

More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020

The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area

It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South

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7.30pm: Dubai City of Gold Group 2 $250,000 (T) 2,410m
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
  1. Join parent networks
  2. Look beyond school fees
  3. Keep an open mind
Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants

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