UAE 27 March 2020: The Ministry of Interior has clarified that the National Disinfection Program, scheduled over the weekend starting Thursday, March 26, will take place from 8 pm to 6 am every day till 6 am on Sunday, 29th March.
Movement of traffic and people will go on as usual during the day, but will be restricted during the time of disinfection from 8 pm to 6 am, and public transport and metro trains will be fully stopped during the disinfection.
The ministry stressed that all retail food outlets such as cooperative societies, supermarkets, grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open 24/7. The public will continue to have access to them even during the period of movement restrictions during the disinfection.
Details of the National Disinfection Programme
The UAE Government announced the details of the “National Disinfection Programme,” which will cover public and private facilities, streets, public transportation, metro trains and trams.
During the implementation of the programme, traffic will be restricted, public movement will be suspended, and public transportation will be stopped, as well as metro and tram services, with the exception of private transportation, such as taxis, and transport companies. Everyone is required, whether citizens, residents and visitors, to stay in their homes and not go outside except to purchase food, medicine or health necessities.
Regarding the details related to work and commuting to work, the restrictions exclude several categories of workers in vital sectors, which include energy, communication, health, education, security, and the police, along with the military and the postal, freight, pharmaceutical, water, food, civil aviation, airport, passport, finance and banking, and government media sectors, in addition to the services sector, which includes gas stations and construction projects.
Relevant categories will be verified through business cards or ID cards, and deterrent measures necessary for implementing the instructions issued by relevant national authorities include fines and imprisonment, which will comply with legal legislation, he further added while calling on everyone to follow the instructions of concerned authorities.
You can request permission to leave home
Dubai’s Crisis and Disaster Management Team has launched a website move.gov.ae on which people in Dubai can request permission to leave home during the National Sterilisation Programme for essential purposes such as buying food or medicines.
Only people who have registered on the website and received approval for their request will be allowed to leave home in Dubai. The process has been put in place to ensure the safety of the public during the Sterilisation Programme.
People working in vital fields, including energy, communications, medical, police, army, pharmaceutical, electricity and water, airport and immigration, banking, mass media and construction sectors, as well in petrol stations, will be allowed to leave home during this period without registering on the website. However, they should carry their Emirates ID and work ID cards and present it for verification when required.
The registration process on the website move.gov.ae is simple and straightforward. Users should first register their phone number after which they will receive an OPT code via SMS to complete the process. Users will be asked to enter their Emirates ID, car registration, details of their purpose and destination and time of the trip. Once the process is complete, users will receive an SMS confirming registration.
Metro, tram and marine services to be suspended
Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will suspend normal public transport services for the duration of the operations to be held during overnight hours on Sterlisation Programme days.
RTA will cease Dubai Metro, Tram and marine transport services daily from 08:00 pm to 06:00 am – from Thursday to Sunday morning. All public transit means will operate according to their normal schedules during the Sterilisation Programme from 07:00 am to 07:00 pm.
The Programme will be conducted from 08:00 pm to 06:00 am from today, Thursday, to Sunday morning. The last round of sterilisation operations will end at 06:00 am on Sunday 29 March 2020.
Dubai Taxis will serve the public via Careem and Uber Apps, offering rides only to hospitals. Public buses will continue to operate during the overnight sterilisation period on 13 routes namely: 8, 10, 12, A13, 17, 24, C01, C07, F18, F21, F34, F43 and X23. The bus service will run at a frequency of 30 minutes. These routes serve 19 public and private hospitals, namely: Rashid Hospital, Oud Metha; Iranian Hospital, Al Wasl; Zulekha Hospital, Al Qusais; Dubai Hospital, Al Khaleej Road, Deira; Baraha Hospital, Al Baraha, Deira; Latifa Hospital, Al Wasl; NMC Hospital, Al Qusais; Zulekha Hospital, Al Qusais; American Hospital, Oud Metha; Saudi German Hospital, Al Barsha; Emirates Speciality Hospital, Healthcare City; Dubai Dental Hospital, Healthcare City; BR Medical Suites Day Surgical Center, Healthcare City; Sapphire Day Surgery Centre, Healthcare City; American Heart Center, Healthcare City; Dr Riadh Hospital, Healthcare City; Emirates Integra Medical & Surgery Centre, Healthcare City; Medclinic City Hospital, Healthcare City; and Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Hospital, Healthcare City.
During the National Sterilisation Programme period, the medical service will be restricted to those serving vital sectors as specified in the decisions of the Ministries of Health and Interior as well as the urgent medical conditions.
RTA public transit services will revert to regular timings from 07:00 am to 07:00 pm during the days of the National Sterilisation Programme.
RTA public transit services will revert to regular timings from 07:00 am to 07:00 pm during the days of the National Sterilisation Programme.
Emirates Post to close Service Centres, halt courier services
Emirates Post will shut all its Customer Happiness Centres and temporarily halt courier services on Saturday, 28th March, 2020, in line with the three-day “National Disinfection Programme”.
Emirates Post has already enforced stringent measures to ensure the health and safety of its employees and visiting customers, including the disinfection of Customer Happiness Centres, loading areas, sorting centres, trucks, and other transportation vehicles on a daily basis. All new shipment arrivals to sorting centres are also being sterilised to combat any chances of transmission.
As part of the UAE’s vital services, Emirates Post will reopen for operations on Sunday (29th March) but with reduced operating hours. Customer Service Centres will now temporarily operate from 9:00 to 14:00 or 9:00 to 18:00, to further limit social and physical distancing, the official postal operator stated.
Customers can continue to avail of services online, including renting and renewing PO Boxes, as well as ordering pick-up services for domestic express shipments, premium domestic shipments and premium international shipments, it added.
Only 30% staff allowed at private media units
The National Media Council (NMC) has decided to allow a maximum of 30 percent of the workforce of each non-government media outlet to work across the day during the disinfection period with all necessary procedures to be taken to ensure compliance to the decision.
The government media sector is exempted from the restrictions on movement of people and vehicles during the disinfection programme which will take effect over the weekend starting from Thursday, March 26, 8 pm to 6 am every day until March 29.
NMC calls upon all media institutions to dedicate all their professional and technical resources to educate the public in all languages on the new procedures to ensure safety of the society and its protection.
NMC also urges all non-government media personnel to carry their media ID cards during the disinfection period.
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