A view from Dubai
As of 5 May the United Arab Emirates has had 15,192 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 146 confirmed deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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The country was quick to implement travel restrictions and each Emirate has imposed varying restrictions and lockdown measures. In Dubai a night curfew began on 26 March which was extended to a full-scale lockdown where residents required a permit to leave their homes on 4 April.
After 20 days these measures began to be partially lifted with residents allowed to move without a permit from 6am to 10pm, whilst still maintaining physical distance and wearing a mask. Public transport, some restaurants, cafes, malls and offices have begun to reopen under 30% capacity and social distancing measures.
As we noted in Tuesday’s blog, there has been an uptick in activity as tracked by Google’s COVID-19 Community Mobility Report* in many locations easing restrictions. Here we take a detailed look at all six measures for Dubai. This shows growing activity over the past week, particularly in retail & recreation, parks and grocery & pharmacy, which still sit 62%, 75% and 28% below baseline – small gains but a step closer to normality.
Inbound flights have ceased into Dubai, but Emirates announced that it will operate outbound flights to five destinations: London, Frankfurt, Shanghai, San Paulo and Manila to allow people to get home.
The data below shows the number of scheduled and tracked flights, according to Flightradar24, which confirms that on average during the week to 3 May there were 12 flights tracked per day, a fall of 97% from two months ago, but double this time last month. The Director-General of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing in Dubai, Helal Al Marri has indicated that “July would be the time we start to see the air open up”.
With many businesses operating with a limited capacity, in line with the government’s 30% occupancy cap, and the traditional slow down during the month of Ramadan we are likely to see a gradual increase in activity rather than a surge. As with other countries beginning to ease lockdown restrictions a keen eye will be on a resurgence in Covid-19 cases, and those still outlining a path out of lockdown will be watching with keen interest.
*Google’s COVID-19 Community Mobility Report analyses the how visits and time spent at different places change compared to a baseline. The baseline is the median value, for the corresponding day of the week, during the 5- week period Jan 3–Feb 6, 2020