Top Emirati doctor: stay away from big play groups and wear a mask if a handyman visits your home

Dr Omar Al Hammadi urges all to be cautious at home and avoid crowds and enclosed areas

Mass testing across the country is credited with saving lives and allowing the economy to reopen gradually. All photos by Victor Besa / The National

A mass testing campaign aims to screen all workers living in Abu Dhabi’s Mussaffah area

The testing is free of cost, said the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi.

Free transportation is provided to take workers from their accommodation to testing centres.

The initiative announced by the Abu Dhabi Media Office, said no legal action will be taken against those who are living in the emirate on expired visas.

“Testing campaign and sanitisation [are] to be conducted in gradual phases, and in coordination with targeted blocks,” said the Abu Dhabi Media Office.

The main medical registration area at the Seha facility in Mussaffah.

Another queue sends visitors to a line where they are processed by handing over their Emirates ID card and phone number.

A staff member of the center directs a workers to the next area at the screening centre.

A high body temperature of 38°C could indicate signs of fever, a common coronavirus symptom.

Visitors must complete a brief questionnaire to help nurses understand the health status of those waiting in line.

On arrival in Mussaffah, workers walk through a sanitisation mist shower before entering the tented clinic.

Workers and residents queue in front of the sanitising gate before they can enter the main tent screening centre.

A top coronavirus doctor has three pieces of advice for UAE residents: avoid enclosed spaces; wear a mask if someone enters your home; and keep your children away from big play groups.

Dr Al Hammadi made his comments in a video message recorded for an Arabic newspaper.

The internal medicine consultant, who frequently appears in television broadcasts, said enclosed spaces and people who travel widely for work both posed a major transmission risk.

“It has become repetitive and mundane to talk about transmission methods, especially after a year,” he said.

“Everyone knows the virus spreads in crowded areas, places where there is no social distancing and in closed areas with no ventilation, even with a few people.”

But the virus can be transmitted during an essential home-repair visit.

“Let’s assume you need a faulty appliance fixed," Dr Al Hammadi said.

"Unfortunately, [sometimes] when the handyman enters the house, one of the parties eases on the required precautionary measures.

“Sometimes, one will not have a mask or fail to maintain social distancing. This is how the virus is transmitted.”

Officials previously urged residents to put a mask on to answer the door or accept food from a delivery driver, each of whom could visit hundreds of homes each week.

He also urged people to be cautious in enclosed spaces such as lifts, which tend to have capacity restricted to two or three people maximum.

“I hope this information helps to reduce the numbers of daily cases during these difficult times.”

He said that in schools, teachers and wardens carefully separate the pupils, but in parks and gardens parents often forget that children can spread the virus.

Children over the age of six are required to wear a mask in all public places, although they can slip or be pulled off.

Most children who become infected with Covid-19 virus have no symptoms, or show only mild symptoms such as low-grade fever, fatigue and a cough.

Early research suggested that children were not one of the major carriers of the virus – but more recent studies raise concerns.

"Children in schools are supervised and protective measures are followed in the classroom," Dr Al Hammadi said.

"We need to continue following these measures at all times.

"We need to supervise our children to keep our families and communities safe."

UAE vaccination campaign – in pictures