UAE formulates progressive strategies to transition from pandemic

The UAE government has launched a new strategy for the post-coronavirus period that covers work plans and measures addressing the most urgent economic and social sectors.

One of the pillars of the strategy is the launch of a federal and local government package of economic actions to promote various private-sector organizations to overcome the fallout of the health crisis.

The UAE Central Bank declared a 100 billion dirham ($27 billion) economic plan to support containing the impact of the coronavirus outbreak by helping banks and businesses. The central bank said it would provide 50 billion dirhams ($13.6 billion) through collateralized loans at zero cost to all banks running in the UAE, while an additional 50 billion dirhams ($13.6 billion) would be cleared up from lenders’ capital buffers.

Since the beginning of the crisis, Emirati leadership has vowed to provide food and medicine and ensure equitable care to all residents.

The UAE was also quick to take concrete measures to secure its food stock and ensure market supply, including by issuing a law regulating food stocks during crises and emergencies.

The UAE has also taken steps to shield workers from the pandemic and ensure their basic health and safety.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, UAE minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, said in a letter to the director-general of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Guy Ryder, that the epidemic endangers the health, safety and well-being of all people throughout the globe, and needs a complete global response. In his letter, he emphasized his country’s dedication to protecting workers’ rights.

The pandemic has allowed the UAE to experiment with the efficiency of the technological infrastructure it has worked for years to build. Emiratis have had little trouble shifting to remote work in sectors and areas that allowed the switch.

In another aspect of applied technologies and sciences, the UAE spread the circle of testing required to detect people with coronavirus to include the largest possible number of individuals from different social backgrounds.

In Dubai, a new technical tool was introduced to facilitate high-speed collective testing with laser beams within seconds.

The country previously stated the opening of a highly-developed laboratory to ensure more accurate diagnoses, launched by the leading Group 42 in the field of artificial intelligence and cloud computing-based in Abu Dhabi, and the BGI Group. The technology allows for tens of thousands of tests every day with “CRRT” technology.

With these methods, the UAE was also able to recognize and assemble available resources in order to provide tonnes of medical aid to dozens of countries in various continents, regardless of religion, race or politics.