Vaccination rates among school children in Abu Dhabi have risen dramatically since the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek) announced the Blue Schools initiative.
The programme, which was announced in October, permits private and charter schools with higher vaccination levels to gradually ease coronavirus restrictions.
Our education community has demonstrated remarkable commitment to national vaccination aspirations
Amer Al Hammadi,
Adek
Vaccination rates have risen among all school age groups, with 93 per cent of students over 16, 68 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds, and 21 per cent of under-12s now vaccinated against Covid-19.
Overall, 37 per cent of pupils in the Abu Dhabi’s private and charter schools have had both doses.
As a consequence Adek has brought forward the Blue Schools programme by two months, and 34 schools have been allowed to relax physical distancing and mask-wearing protocols.
Other permitted privileges include reintroducing field trips, on-campus events, and extra-curricular activities such as team and contact sports, as well as inter and intra-school sports competitions.
Amer Al Hammadi, Adek undersecretary, celebrated the rapid progress.
“Our education community has demonstrated remarkable commitment to national vaccination aspirations, so it is only prudent to reward schools by expediting a return to normalcy and encouraging further vaccination uptake through the early activation of the Blue Schools Initiative.”
The colour-coded tier system is based on the percentage of the school population immunised.
As vaccination rates increase within a school community, a school will advance through four colour-coded tiers: Orange (less than 50 per cent of school population vaccinated), Yellow (50-64 per cent), Green (65-84 per cent), and Blue (85 per cent and above), and will enjoy additional privileges per tier.
Vaccination rates for individual schools are published every two weeks on Adek's website.
Vaccination of students under 16 is voluntary, according to government protocols, and Adek insisted children should not be stigmatised for not being inoculated.
Instead, the Blue Schools scheme aims to encourage all age groups to be immunised in order to accelerate a return to normality and minimise the effect of possible infections.
Children aged between 12 and 15 have been allowed the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine since May this year, and in August the UAE's Ministry of Health and Prevention approved the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for children between 3 and 17.
This week, the UAE approved the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children aged between 5 and 11 on an emergency basis.
Authorities said clinical studies showed the vaccine provided a strong and safe immune response.
Benefits for Blue Schools
Once a school reaches blue status, the following directives apply:
* Pupils can remove masks outdoors
* Physical distancing measures for pupils can be removed
* Allow all field trips (also for Green Schools)
* Bus capacity back to 100 per cent (also for Green Schools)
* Duration of school closure for Covid-19 outbreak capped at seven days (also for Green Schools)
* Class/bubble sizes set at 25 (kindergarten to foundation stage) and 30 (Grade 1/Year 2 and above)
* Events such as school assemblies, graduation ceremonies are permitted
* Inter-school activities, such as sports competitions, allowed with other Blue Schools (such activities contained to the school approved at Green level)
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
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- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
MATCH INFO
Everton 0
Manchester City 2 (Laporte 45 2', Jesus 90 7')
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Reputation
Taylor Swift
(Big Machine Records)
Secret Nation: The Hidden Armenians of Turkey
Avedis Hadjian, (IB Tauris)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
Getting there
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly to Johannesburg or Cape Town daily. Flights cost from about Dh3,325, with a flying time of 8hours and 15 minutes. From there, fly South African Airlines or Air Namibia to Namibia’s Windhoek Hosea Kutako International Airport, for about Dh850. Flying time is 2 hours.
The stay
Wilderness Little Kulala offers stays from £460 (Dh2,135) per person, per night. It is one of seven Wilderness Safari lodges in Namibia; www.wilderness-safaris.com.
Skeleton Coast Safaris’ four-day adventure involves joining a very small group in a private plane, flying to some of the remotest areas in the world, with each night spent at a different camp. It costs from US$8,335.30 (Dh30,611); www.skeletoncoastsafaris.com
The biog
Favourite book: Men are from Mars Women are from Venus
Favourite travel destination: Ooty, a hill station in South India
Hobbies: Cooking. Biryani, pepper crab are her signature dishes
Favourite place in UAE: Marjan Island
Expert advice
“Join in with a group like Cycle Safe Dubai or TrainYAS, where you’ll meet like-minded people and always have support on hand.”
Stewart Howison, co-founder of Cycle Safe Dubai and owner of Revolution Cycles
“When you sweat a lot, you lose a lot of salt and other electrolytes from your body. If your electrolytes drop enough, you will be at risk of cramping. To prevent salt deficiency, simply add an electrolyte mix to your water.”
Cornelia Gloor, head of RAK Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy Centre
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can ride as fast or as far during the summer as you do in cooler weather. The heat will make you expend more energy to maintain a speed that might normally be comfortable, so pace yourself when riding during the hotter parts of the day.”
Chandrashekar Nandi, physiotherapist at Burjeel Hospital in Dubai
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