Manama: Dubai Health Authority (DHA) ordered all licensed hospitals and one-day surgery clinics to suspend all nonessential surgical procedures until February 19.
The move comes amid an unprecedented spike in coronavirus infection in the UAE. Dubai Media Office said the move is in line with efforts to ensure the highest quality of care for the community.
In a circular sent to public and private health care facilities across Dubai, the authority announced that medical operations may be allowed to continue only per medical urgency starting Thursday as the city tries to keep its hospitals from becoming swarming. It directed to put elective therapeutic surgeries on hold until 19 February.
The DHA order took effect on Thursday.
The list of elective surgeries includes but is not limited to neurosurgical procedures, fractures and corrective orthopaedic procedures, cardiological and radiological interventions, stone and urological stent removals and other urgent procedures in general surgery, ophthalmology, paediatrics, obstetrics, gynaecology and other specialities, the Media Office added.
Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in the UAE for the last couple of months. Daily infections in the country have nearly tripled since November. For the tenth consecutive day, new infections in the country have hovered around 3,500 per day, registering 3,529 cases on Thursday alone. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 2,67,258 amid an aggressive testing campaign. Of these, 239,322 were cured. So far 766 people have died. 27,170 people are under treatment.
The health authority does not release location data for infections, making it difficult to determine where in the federation of seven emirates have been hardest hit by the virus.
Dubai has remained open for tourism and business while capital Abu Dhabi has retained tighter restrictions, requiring all who travel through to present a negative COVID-19 test.
Tens of thousands of tourists flooded Dubai to celebrate New Year and the holidays in recent weeks. The emirate mandates social distancing inside and masks outside, but otherwise a sense of normalcy prevails.
