A UAE minister has ruled out the country going for a full lockdown amid COVID-19 concerns.
Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade said Omicron is way less impactful than Delta and “even during Delta, we hadn’t locked down the country (because) balance has been there (between economy and health sectors). Even with futurist variants when it comes to coronavirus, we will not go back to a full lockdown of the country.”
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The UAE had announced lockdowns and travel restrictions after the pandemic broke out in early 2020, but was also the first country to reopen.
The minister said 2021 was critical, encouraging, and positive for the economy adding that in 2022, the UAE is standing on a solid foundation, and it will maintain a balance between economic and health aspects.
He stated that e-commerce and real estate are among the top sectors attracting huge foreign direct investment from Europe, Australia and other countries and revealed that the government is also working on comprehensive partnership agreements with some countries.
The minister also said that the trade with Turkey will also triple as the two countries’ economic committees met recently to chart out closer cooperation. (AW)
