Dubai authorities temporarily closed 32 food outlets and issued warnings to a further 472 for flouting Covid-19 rules this year.
Dubai Municipality said its inspectors had carried out 5,841 visits in 2021 to establishments such as restaurants, cafes, supermarkets and grocery stores to ensure they were following safety measures.
Traders are allowed to operate during the pandemic in line with a series of coronavirus regulations governing hygiene, wearing face masks and social distancing.
"The most prominent violations that were detected were non-compliance with social distancing, and not wearing personal safety equipment such as masks and gloves during food preparation, as well as not using approved sterilisation and disinfection materials,” said Sultan Al Taher, head of food inspection at the municipality.
He said awareness of public health requirements among owners and staff had risen since the department's last round of inspections.
During their visits to the premises, municipality inspectors monitor worker hygiene, the recording of cleaning operations and the preparation and storage of food.
Members of the public were urged to report breaches to the municipality through its hotline, 800 900.
A popular restaurant in Dubai owned by a celebrity chef was among those shut for breaking Covid-19 safety regulations last week.
CZN Burak Dubai was penalised on Friday after a spot check by the Department of Economic Development, in partnership with Dubai Tourism and Dubai Municipality.
The Turkish restaurant was back open on Sunday, following changes to its coronavirus safety measures.
Its owner and chef Burak Ozdemir posts cooking videos on social media and has more than 20 million followers on Instagram.
The restaurant in Downtown Dubai told The National that large numbers of diners had visited the restaurant in recent months, because of its online popularity.
The restaurant said it had reduced the number of seats inside and outside the venue and had been conducting weekly PCR testing of staff.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
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Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
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What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
