Coronavirus: 150 people discharged from Dubai's Warsan isolation centre

Workers clap and cheer for staff and paramedics who treated them for a month

A video shared on social media shows about 150 men discharged from an isolation centre in Al Warsan, Dubai.

About 150 people who were cleared of Covid-19 were discharged from an isolation and quarantine centre in Dubai.

In a video shared online, the men applaud and cheer medical staff as they are escorted out of Al Warsan neighbourhood.

Buildings in the area were converted into isolation facilities for coronavirus patients with mild or no symptoms and quarantine units for people who have come into contact with patients.

Police and security staff watched and joined in the applause as the men, wearing masks, waved to medical and maintenance staff.

At least two negative consecutive test results are typically required by medics before a patient can be released.

The men, mostly blue collar workers, were taken in for treatment last month. A police official confirmed to The National that the men were discharged.

It was unclear how many were patients and how many were only in quarantine after contact tracing.

The facility in Al Warsan treats patients within a compound of buildings where between two to four people share a room.

At least two private health care providers run the facilities with help from local authorities.

Volunteer medical professionals were brought on board by the Indian community and consulate in Dubai to open a new 500-bed centre in the same area on Saturday.

Food and water is left outside the doors of patients and those in quarantine.

Paramedics in full protective gear interact with patients only during testing and treatment.

Over the past few weeks, the government has been conducting extensive testing in heavily populated areas of the country.

Residents have been tested in tents on street corners and in stations set up near workers' accommodation.

Doctors have said people with severe symptoms are tested and admitted to hospital.

In some cases, suspected Covid-19 patients are sent to hotels until test results were received. Others showing mild to moderate symptoms were sent to isolation centres.

Police and security officials have been scouring buildings in congested areas to check on workers who may have shared accommodation with confirmed Covid-19 patients.