Watch: Separated by Covid, UAE families reunite

Watch: Separated by Covid, UAE families reunite

Emotions ran high during a surprise reunion arranged between five UAE residents and their loved ones who were unable to meet for over a year due to the raging Covid pandemic.

The heartwarming initiative was the result of a Facebook competition organised by telecom operator Etisalat in November last year, where people were asked to tag loved ones they missed the most for a chance to gift them the latest 5G smartphone.

Capturing the tales of tearful family reunions, a video released by Etisalat shows five lucky winners invited to a studio for a 'video call' with their loved ones. Little did they know that their family members had been flown down to the UAE two days before the planned shoot.



At first, each winner was connected via video call to their loved ones, who played along and thanked them for their new phone — only for a sliding door in the studio to open and reveal them in person.

Marie Cristina Domingo, 46, a Filipina office administrator in Dubai, and her husband Anthony tagged their 21-year-old daughter Maria Erin, a university student in Laguna, whom they had not seen for