The photo has been used for illustrative purpose.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Committee for the Management of Emergencies, Crises and Disasters to tackle the coronavirus pandemic in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi announced on Thursday the achievement of the goals of the national sterilisation programme and the approval of its completion on Thursday, August 19, 2021.

The Emergency and Crisis Committee thanked the public for its cooperation and stresses the importance of everyone's commitment to preventive and precautionary measures to maintain public safety and health.

The Abu Dhabi announced that from Friday, Aug,20, the entry process for public places are limited to vaccinated Emiratis, residents and tourists only.

According to the approved mechanism, entry to public places will be limited to those who have been vaccinated and that their status appears Green in the Al-Hosn application.

The vaccinated will be required to conduct a nasal swab examination (PCR) every 30 days.

The entry will be allowed for the person exempted from the vaccination whose status appears green in the Al-Hosn application are required to do a PCR every 7 days.

Children under 16 years of age with green status will be allowed to enter without a PCR test.

The approved mechanism also stipulates that non-vaccinated people will not be allowed to enter the public places specified by the decision, and for everyone whose description appears in the AlHosn application in gray, which reflects the expiration of the PCR tests.

This entry mechanism will apply to visitors and tourists in the emirate, who must follow the protocol for coming from outside the country.

The committee also announced that the holder of the new residency visa, who is not vaccinated, would be treated as exempt from vaccination and given a period of 60 days to receive the vaccination.

In order to maintain the vaccinated status on the AlHosn application, the committee clarified that the people must obtain the booster dose 6 months after receiving the second dose according to the medical protocol approved for each vaccine.

A 30-day grace period will be given until Sept.20. After this, the status will turn grey. Participants in clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine are excluded from this decision.

The committee announced in June that the public places where vaccinated can visit are shopping centers, restaurants, cafes and shops outside the shopping centres such as stores selling food, beverages and goods and providing services in all its forms.

It also includes halls, sports activities, clubs, health resorts, museums, cultural centers, entertainment centers and theme parks, in addition to universities, institutes, public and private schools and nurseries in the emirate.

The committee confirmed that the decision comes within the proactive measures set by the emirate to contain the spread of the virus variants, and stressed the importance of everyone's commitment to precautionary measures while receiving the vaccine, as vaccination is the best way for sustainable recovery.