People with expired DHA health cards can still get medical treatment in Dubai. Jaime Puebla / The National
People with expired DHA health cards can still get medical treatment in Dubai. Jaime Puebla / The National
People with expired DHA health cards can still get medical treatment in Dubai. Jaime Puebla / The National
People with expired DHA health cards can still get medical treatment in Dubai. Jaime Puebla / The National

Coronavirus: Dubai extends validity of expired health cards


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People with expired health cards can still use them for medical treatment in Dubai.

The Dubai Health Authority has directed healthcare providers that those with expired health cards will still receive medical services.

The cards can be used for another three months, from March 24,, giving the public access to medical treatment amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The UAE has taken several measures to contain the infection.

Most recently, the country opened a laboratory capable of processing tens of thousands of Covid-19 tests a day.

It is the first of its kind outside China to operate on such a scale.

The companies behind the lab said it would speed up diagnosis of suspected patients, screening of their close contacts and other high-risk groups, and the release of recovered patients, freeing up badly needed hospital beds.

It will initially prioritise testing within the UAE but could eventually receive samples from neighbouring regions, reported state news agency Wam.

The lab, which was set up in only 14 days, will also monitor any mutations in the virus.

Unprecedented levels of health testing are under way in the UAE, and while that will inevitably confirm more cases of Covid-19, it will also enable health authorities to contain the virus.

On March 30, the Ministry of Health and Prevention announced it had completed more than 220,000 laboratory tests for coronavirus.

The latest analysis of global figures had already placed the country sixth on an international list of population testing, seen as the gold standard in limiting contagion.

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