Dubai: COVID-19 violations in Naif drop sharply

Naif area has registered a sharp drop in Covid-19 violations this year after a Dubai Police awareness campaign in 2020 targeting residents, most of whom work in small time businesses.

Dubai Police registered 614 Covid-19 violations in the area since January, compared to more than 6,612 violations last year for failure to wear masks, not maintaining social distancing and exceeding limit of people allowed in a place

Brigadier Dr. Tariq Mohammed Noor Tahlak, Director of Naif Police Station said in 2020, Naif Police Station launched one of the biggest awareness campaigns to guide people on precautionary measures. “Police worked on field on foot and in patrols, and in areas where patrols couldn’t enter, we used drones with speakers to send the messages in different languages so that most nationalities got the message,” he said.

Brig Tahlak said Naif was among the first areas in the UAE and the region to implement a lock-down and the national sterilization programme. The lockdown in Naif lasted for 28 days and helped bring down violations and infections. He said that almost 120 people volunteered with Dubai Police in raising awareness and detecting violations during the period.

He said that if the leadership hadn’t acted in time, the situation could have been much worse in the congested area which houses approximately 280,000 people.

He said people in the area have shown great cooperation with the police, because they believe that the police is working for their good.