Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) Field Hospital has discharged its last coronavirus patient, a Japanese national, Hiroaki Fujita, who has been a UAE resident for nearly three years. He was allowed to leave and go home after testing negative for COVID-19 following a two-week treatment at the facility. The hospital’s staff celebrated the occasion as Fujita praised the healthcare workers for their care.
The World Trade Centre was converted into a temporary hospital in April, following the spread of coronavirus in the UAE, and successfully catered to hundreds of emergency cases. The hospital had space for 3,000 patients, including 800 intensive care patients. It has now been closed and DWTC will be converted into a safe sports facility which will host the 10th annual Dubai Sports World event on 3rd October.
Several other temporary health facilities in Abu Dhabi and Ajman continue to operate, while ADNEC Field Hospital has also confirmed that it is free of all COVID-19 cases.
The UAE has reported a total of 52,600 coronavirus cases so far, with 41,714 recoveries and 326 deaths. Over the last couple of weeks, the number of new cases reported in the country has gone down, while the number of daily recoveries has gone up. More than 3.5 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the UAE while the authorities have said they will be carrying out two million more tests over the next two months. A three-month national sterilisation programme has also been completed.
Following these developments, Dubai has lifted many of its previous restrictions on travel and movement, and is inching slowly back to normality. However, wearing face masks in public is still mandatory to prevent a second wave of infections. The only exceptions to this rule are for people who are driving alone in a car, exercising or those who have an illness which makes it difficult to breathe while wearing a mask.