Combating coronavirus: UAE adjusts to a new normal amid Covid-19 cases

Dubai - Dubai also lifted a weeks long quarantine order on Naif and Al Ras areas neighborhoods.

In a Dubai industrial park, workers weld, drill and build what one entrepreneur sees as key to the near future of this desert city-state amid the coronavirus pandemic: disinfection gates.
Husam Zammar's company builds such gates for government and commercial clients. He believes the new safety measures will find wide acceptance, just as metal detectors did after the 9/11 terror attacks. "If we consider two people, one has a knife and one has coronavirus, the second one is a hundred times dangerous than the first one," he said.
Fear of the virus is palpable in Dubai and elsewhere in the the United Arab Emirates. Yet even as confirmed coronavirus cases spike, the UAE is opening up its malls and restaurants to stimulate its economy while still trying to fight off the pandemic.
That's led to a new normal here of temperature checks, social distancing monitors at supermarkets and marked-off empty seats on the city's driverless Metro. But crowds already have come to the malls and others are leaving their homes after weeks of quarantine, eager to party in a city known for its nightlife and increasing the risk of the virus spreading.
In lifting more stringent restrictions, the UAE cited the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which began late last week. Dubai also lifted a weeks long quarantine order on Naif and Al Ras areas neighborhoods late on Sunday, saying it had detected no new coronavirus cases there for two days.
But the detection rate for cases continues to spike due to mass testing. Authorities say more than 1 million tests have been administered - a number expected to rise. On Monday, Abu Dhabi's Department of Economic Development ordered companies outside of free zones to test all their employees.
On Tuesday, UAE reported it had seen over 11,300 confirmed cases of the virus with 89 deaths.