Covid-19: Gulf countries also suffer from the arrival of Omicron

A man waves the national flag during the celebrations of the 50th National Day of the United Arab Emirates, at EXPO 2020 in Dubai, on December 2, 2021. AP - Kamran Jebreili

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The World Health Organization (WHO) warns: the Omicron variant will cause " 

 " around the world.

Contamination records are on the rise everywhere and even in the Gulf countries, which are breaking sad records.

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Employees of the public hospital in Qatar will have to wait before going on vacation.

This Tuesday, December 28, the main group of the country announced the suspension of holidays " 

".

An answer to the latest Covid-19 figures on Monday, a record since May: with 343 new patients, contaminations have doubled in one month.

In the United Arab Emirates, there too the contaminations jump: more than 1,700 new cases were recorded Monday.

This is 25 times more than three weeks ago. 

The revamped Universal Exhibition

In one of the emirates, in Dubai, a hotspot for tourism, the New Year's festivities are held on Friday, December 31.

But the other event of the moment, the Universal Exhibition, must be rearranged.

Some sites will be closed and disinfected after an increase in contamination among employees. 

In Saudi Arabia, new cases doubled in a week.

As elsewhere in the region, the authorities are betting on vaccination.

Since last week, children aged 5 to 11 can be vaccinated.

From February, a booster dose will be mandatory to enter several establishments including businesses.

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• United Arab Emirates

• Saudi Arabia

• Qatar

• Coronavirus