UAE Receives International Praise For Efforts To Combat COVID-19 Pandemic

Roberto Speranza, Italian Minister of Health, and current president of the G20 Ministers of Health, has praised the UAE for its exemplary efforts in combating the coronavirus pandemic and speed in implementing one of the most effective COVID-19 responses globally, evident with one of the lowest mortality and infection rate around the world.

The approach ensured the health and safety of the community and maintained the vitality of the local economy, he added.

The recognition was made during the visit of the Italian minister, accompanied by Nicola Lehner, the Italian Ambassador to the UAE, and their accompanying delegation, to the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH).

Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Hamed, Chairman of DoH, Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, Under-Secretary of DoH, Matar Al Nuaimi, Director-General of Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC) and a number of officials from DoH and ADPHC welcomed the dignitaries.

The visit was enriched with knowledge transfer and various learnings involved in fighting the COVID-19 global pandemic over the last 20 months. Both parties exchanged scientific opportunities and probed practical methods in epidemiology, research, technology, and innovation. They also examined future partnerships in the areas of preventive medicine, telemedicine, biotechnology, genomics, life science, and medical technologies.

Al Hamed said, “The UAE’s achievements are guided by the wise direction of our government and their continuous support to ensure the wellbeing of the UAE. The last 20 months were challenging yet rewarding. It gave us many lessons, but most of all with the confidence of carrying the journey that our leadership has set up to make Abu Dhabi one of the best healthcare systems globally. We are pleased to welcome Roberto Speranza, who we have shared their experience in response to the pandemic and conversed about ways of cooperation between the UAE and Italy in the healthcare sector. We shared many of the common challenges that we faced and agreed to take the collaboration forward to serve our respected nations and the wider world.”

He added, “The international accolades presented to the emirate of Abu Dhabi confirms the positive outcome of an exceptional COVID-19 response model. We are proud of the exerted efforts and where we reached today. We look forward to strengthening Abu Dhabi’s position on the global healthcare map.”

Abu Dhabi was ranked among the other 50 cities as the leading city in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the London-based analytics consortium, Deep Knowledge Group (DKG). Since the outbreak, the Emirates has strengthened its measures, procedures, and initiatives with the aim to maintain the health and safety of its citizens, residents and visitors. Adding to that, the Emirate’s private and public sectors have joint efforts to aid in the development of the healthcare sector and to stabilize Abu Dhabi’s economy throughout the pandemic.

DKG ranks cities based on the government’s efficiency in mitigating the crisis and managing digital services. They also stressed the city’s economic flexibility, the effectiveness of the quarantine system, its scope and duration alongside vaccination rates, vaccine availability and the percentage of recipients.

Additionally, the UAE launched the Covid-19 National Vaccination Campaign, an initiative that vaccinated more than 90 percent of the population, for free. Likewise, the UAE hosted the largest and one of the first vaccine clinical trials globally, generating results that supported the approval of the most used vaccine worldwide today.

UAE become one of the leading nations in terms of donation and has launched the “HOPE Consortium” to offer the most effective vaccine supply chains solution to the world. The consortium provided an effective solution to tackle one of the biggest airlifts in our lifetime. It delivered over 100 million vaccine doses to over 65 countries since its inception 11 months ago.