Dubai’s world fair at risk of shutdown over skyrocketing cases

Dubai’s multibillion-dollar world fair may shut down due to a surge of COVID-19 cases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The city’s Expo 2020 said that coronavirus outbreaks among staff would possibly cause parts of the fair to “close temporarily for deep cleaning and sanitization,” according to the Associated Press. The fair did not specify the location or extent of the infections.

The Hill has reached out to Expo 2020 Dubai for comment.

After being postponed a year, the fair opened in October, when the UAE was reporting fewer than 100 daily COVID-19 cases for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

Expo 2020 still announced various precautions, such as face masks, vaccine passports or proof of a negative COVID-19 test. However, they have not been strictly enforced. In recent weeks, visitors have not been seen social distancing during the Expo’s tightly packed concerts. 

The arrival of the omicron variant has also caused roadblocks for the event. COVID-19 cases in UAE have soared since the arrival of the omicron variant at the beginning of the month. The average number of daily new infections reported on Tuesday was 1,846, a stark increase from the 69 daily new infections reported on Dec. 8, according to the Reuters COVID-19 tracker.

Emirati authorities have reported that about 90 percent of the UAE population is fully vaccinated.