Dubai’s tourism boss defended not locking down despite a spike in virus cases after the city became a hotspot for influencers

Dubai’s tourism boss defended not locking down despite a spike in virus cases after the city became a hotspot for influencers

Dubai's tourism boss defended the city's lax restrictions in the wake of a sharp spike in coronavirus infections.

The city, part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has remained far more open than much of the world, and as a result many western influencers have flocked there to escape lockdowns where they live.

While other nations have clamped down hard to prevent travel, fearing that visitors will bring a resurgence of the virus, Dubai has kept most of its industries open.

Helal Saeed Al Marri, the director general of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, told CNN: "We approach things in a very measured fashion, but it's our philosophy that we should work through this pandemic."

"If we ask everybody to change their behavior 100%, it's very unlikely to get full compliance. In our case, we've asked people to tweak their behavior, to learn to live in the new normal, and people have embraced that."

He said that people are wearing masks in Dubai, and that compliance is being driven by ordinary people rather than the police.

But the UAE's cases have soared.

The UAE did impose some new restrictions on Tuesday: It closed bars and night clubs, and reduced the capacity of indoor venues