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By Julius Nwosu (UAE)
The United Arab Emirates is a small country, but it’s packed with exciting places for visitors to check out and fall in love with. From modern buildings to cultural hot-spots, there’s a little bit of everything. This what makes the UAE one of the hottest tourist destinations in the world. Just like every other parts of the world, we were not left with the shock impacted on us by the pandemic called corona virus which has distorted the activities of the country as a whole.
Notably, owing to different conspiracy theories surrounding the outbreak of corona virus like failed laboratory test in Wuhan, corruption, consumption of uncooked Wild animals in Chinese markets, 5G technology. Environmentalists puts the blame on man as the major cause of the viral outbreak reason being that deforestation for the selfish interest of man’s activities has forced the animals to adjust to a more severe living condition and mostly in their unnatural habitation which could prompt them to engage in activities outside their natural selection. The coronavirus, or nCOV or Covid-19, is a virus that is transmitted through droplets, with symptoms such as fever, cough, short breath, gastrointestinal issues, general body ache, etc. The outbreak of the virus, which began in Wuhan, China, has sickened more than three and a half million people and has sent shivers through world financial markets, with investors drawing comparisons to the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in order to assess its potential socio-economic impact.
As at May 6, 2020, at least 146 people have died, 15,192 confirmed cases, 3,153 recoveries drafted from http://www.coronauae.com in less than three months of its emergence and wildfire spread, this pandemic has plunged the country into economic recession. How far are we from the corona virus cure? The eruption of coronavirus and its spontaneous spread across UAE has taken many by surprise. Businesses, industries, and governments must now stand up to the reality of the urgency of the situation. The ongoing pandemic; coronavirus has affected movement and business activities thereby putting them on hold and causing panic in several sectors of the country.
The social distancing has kept a large number of companies, businesses, industries and several sectors on lockdown, causing a downtrend in the UAE market. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, countries across the world have relied on complete or partial lockdowns as a mitigative step to control the spread of infection. Among these countries, lockdowns imposed by the government of UAE, Dubai had a total lockdown, while Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, and possibly, every other Emirates had partial lockdown. In due course, we must admit to live with it as long as it lasts because the vast population depend on daily income as opposed to monthly income, and as such, there will be noticeable adjustments in our way of living.
However, the adverse effects of the widespread of the coronavirus in UAE has resulted into the Suspension of flight and closure of border, increased begging, massive retrenchment of workers, paused or cancelled job contracts, cut or unpaid salaries to workers, corona-racism, stranded tourists, increased illegal activities, increased cost of food stuffs due to border closure, suspension of social and religious activities, suspension of business activities except hospitals, police, groceries, etc., inadequate funds to pay rents and other bills, restriction of movement due to imposition of partial or total lockdown, increased research and methodology in science.
Nevertheless, there are measures to curb the spread like, creation of awareness, thermal screenings at designated places, social distancing on transport, road, etc., limited number of persons allowed on the lift and stores, use of personal protective equipment, closure of assembly areas like parks, gyms, restaurants, etc., increased acceptance of take away and deliveries of food and other items, emergency self-check and isolation process, deep cleaning and sanitization of prone areas and items, provision of hygienic materials, anti-begging policies, establishments of drive through test centers, set up of emergency hospitals and increased intake of frontline workers, airborne precautions, quarantine for infected persons. Moreover, there have been positive impacts to changes in the society like; decarbonization of the earth, solidarity among all races, renewal of energy, climate change, increased use of technology such as Artificial intelligence and machine learning, e.g. Drones, Robots, etc., increased use of other means of transports and crowd-cutting, e.g. cycling.
Successfully, with the recent ground breaking scientific research in the use of stem cell that the UAE developed as an aerosol medication which has shown promising results in the treatment of Covid-19, developed by a team of doctors and researchers at Abu Dhabi Stem Cell Centre, it was administered to 73 coronavirus patients who have each gone on to recover, It involves extracting stem cells from the patient’s blood and reintroducing them after “activating” them. The patent was granted for the method in which the stem cells are collected. After it has been nebulized into a fine mist, the treatment is inhaled into the lungs of a patient. The treatment has successfully undergone the initial phase of clinical trials, demonstrating its safety. Researchers believe it has a therapeutic effect caused by regeneration of lung cells. It is also thought to modulate the immune response to keep it from overreacting to the Covid-19 infection and causing further damage to healthy cells.
Victoriously, we hope to expect a decline in the wild spread and total eradication of the virus with more on observing safety precautions, findings, respecting the law, etc. we hope things to resume as expected as we fight on to overcome these trying times, with a big gratitude to the front liners, condolences to those who have lost their loved ones, and not forgetting those who survived the trauma of being quarantined, stay smart, stay safe.