Dubai pays price for festive parties as coronavirus cases surge

Dubai pays price for festive parties as coronavirus cases surge

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Dubai cemented its reputation as aparty city over the festive period,drawing revellers from around the world. Barely a month later the Gulf emirate is paying a high price as coronavirus cases surge and doctors complain of a shortage of beds.

Covid-19 cases have quadrupled since November to almost 4,000 a day. The past fortnight of record-breaking infections has forced Dubai to introduce some new restrictions, such as increasing testing on arrivals and banning live entertainment, even as the United Arab Emirates' vaccination drive speeds ahead.

"It's bad luck to be the jet-set's party town during a global pandemic,“ said Jim Krane, research fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute and author of Dubai: The Story of the World's Fastest City.

Doctors across UAE echo the sentiment. "The New Year shenanigans in Dubai were an obvious superspreader event. After that, cases have gone up quickly and we have the new variant too,“ said one expatriate doctor who did not want his name to be published.

The festive influx delivered an economic boost to the indebted emirate. Hotel occupancy rose to an average 71 per cent in December, the busiest month for hospitality since the pandemic began. The open-door