Dubai Economy closed down 11 shops for flouting Covid-19 guidelines in March.
The Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection Sector of the authority issued 252 fines and 61 warnings during the month.
Most of the breaches were related to failure to wear face masks or adhere to physical distancing rules.
The incidents were detected during inspections of markets and shopping centres across the emirate.
“Dubai Economy will continue the inspections along with our various partners, and will not tolerate any violation or malpractice detected or reported by the public,” said Abdul Aziz Al Tannak, director of commercial control at Dubai Economy.
“Businesses should strictly adhere to precautionary measures such as wearing masks and gloves and maintaining physical distancing.”
Mr Al Tannak said Dubai Economy had stepped up inspections and there were almost 16,500 stores in the emirate in full compliance with the rules.
This figure, he said, showed more than 98 per cent of stores were applying social distancing rules correctly.
He also urged the public to report any breaches through the Dubai Consumer App, which is available on the Apple, Google and Huawei stores.
Alternatively, they could call 600 545 555 or lodge a complaint on the consumerrights.ae website.
