UAE remains world's most Covid-resilient country

Emirates ranked highest among 53 of the world’s biggest economies

Dubai Municipality has updated Covid-19 regulations for the emirate. Children's birthday parties are now allowed in playgrounds and recreational areas.

Restaurants and cafes can return to normal, pre-pandemic opening hours.

Restaurant tables can now be set at 1.5 metres apart, instead of 2m, and the capacity has been increased to 80 per cent.

Events in restaurants and cafes can continue until 3am.

Shisha cafes in Dubai can also return to 80 per cent capacity and place their tables 1.5 metres apart, rather than two metres.

Shopping malls and cinemas can increase their capacity to 80 per cent as long as visitors observe social distancing and remain 2m apart.

The UAE remains top of the latest Covid-19 global resilience ranking, ahead of Ireland and Saudi Arabia.

As more countries moved towards living with the virus, Bloomberg said the Emirates scored highest among the 53 economies tracked on vaccine doses administered.

“The country also performed well on 'Vaccinated Travel Routes' and has maintained a low case count the past month, along with limited overall mortality,” Bloomberg said.

The UAE has been a consistently high-performing country, thanks to an organised and thorough vaccination drive and stringent precautionary measures.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention on Thursday said the total number of vaccine doses administered stood at 24,087,368 — a rate of 243.54 doses per 100 people.

The UAE reported 782 new Covid-19 cases in its latest update, with the number of active cases falling to 48,080, down from 70,743 on February 6.

The top ten also included Norway, Australia, Spain, Finland, Columbia, UK and Portugal.

The UK moved up three places in the rankings to ninth as “Community Mobility” rose with eased restrictions, while the US edged up three spots into 20th place as its Omicron outbreak waned.

Poland, the Philippines, Russia, Hong Kong and Pakistan made up the bottom five in the rankings.

Bloomberg said Pakistan was ranked lowest due to “low levels of inoculation, tight restrictions on unvaccinated people, as well as weak healthcare infrastructure".

It said Hong Kong, which is facing an outbreak of cases, dropped 19 places in the rankings.

The Bloomberg Covid Resilience Rankings assess the best places to live globally during the pandemic.

The rankings are a monthly snapshot of which of the world’s biggest economies are handling the pandemic the best, with the least social and economic disruption.

Bloomberg uses 11 data indicators to score each of the 53 countries included in the survey, including virus containment, quality of health care, vaccination coverage, overall mortality and progress towards restarting international travel.