Coronavirus: hundreds of volunteers give safety tips to shoppers in UAE malls

1,800 volunteers are spread across 170 shopping centres to raise awareness

Volunteers ask shoppers to sanitise their hands before shopping. Courtesy UAE Volunteers 

Hundreds of volunteers have entered shopping malls across the UAE to raise awareness on safety as Covid-19 precautionary measures are eased.

As part of the ‘UAE Volunteers’ campaign, 1,800 people have signed up to support safe-shopping initiative ‘Labeah ya Watan’.

These volunteers are spread across 170 shopping locations in the country and will give shoppers important safety tips as they head back to supermarkets and fashion stores.

The volunteers will also ensure that precautionary measures, including use of face masks and gloves, are followed.

They have been trained on how to guide and provide the right information to shoppers.

The initiative aims to educate more than 1,600,000 people in the country, said Obaid Al Hasan Al Shamsi, general manager of the National Authority for Emergency, Crisis and Disaster.

“Through the initiative, masks and gloves are also distributed to the visitors of the co-operative societies, trade centres and food outlets, guiding them on how to sanitise their hands and maintain a social distance of at least two metres in public,” said Mr Al Shamsi.

Dubai Economy announced last week shops and retail stores could increase their staff strength to 70 per cent, up from 30 per cent.

A document titled Reopening Dubai reiterated the announcement by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, that gyms, cinemas and other entertainment venues could reopen with restrictions.

Shopping malls in Abu Dhabi were given the greenlight to reopen in the first week of May amid strict safety precautions.

Many Emirati students who were studying abroad have signed up for the safe-shopping initiative.

The UAE Volunteers programme is part of the new Higher National Committee for Regulating Volunteering during Crisis, set up in April by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation.