Manama: Dubai extended 24-hour curfew by a week to disinfect public areas to rein the spread of coronavirus.
This comes after the Dubai Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management has extended the round-the-clock sterilisation drive for an additional week.
The two-week curfew, which began April 4, was supposed to end on Saturday.
The United Arab Emirates has imposed nightly curfew across the country since March 26 for the sterilization drive, but Dubai expanded it within the emirate to a 24-hour lockdown for two weeks on April 4.
The UAE on Friday reported 477 new cases and two more deaths from the virus, pushing its tally to 6,302 with 37 deaths. It does not give a breakdown for each of the seven emirates.
Those who succumbed to the virus were Keralite living in the emirates identified as Kunjimon and Dileep Kumar.
Kunirimon, a native of Tirur in the Malappuram district died in Abu Dhabi after battling with the virus. He was a fish merchant in Dalma and had been an expat for the last 30 years. He returned home three months ago and admitted in the Abu Dhabi Khalipha Hospital following severe fever. His body was buried in Abu Dhabi.
Another Keralite, Dileep Kumar, a native of Trivandrum, died in Dubai. He was in hospital four days after showing symptoms of the diseases. Two days ago, he suffered with pneumonia which complicated his illness.
Meanwhile, the Emirates Red Crescent humanitarian organization announced that it will "foster and care for" the families of those who have died in the UAE from the novel coronavirus.
