Expats wearing face masks walk past a poster depicting an Emirati man and child by a closed shop in the Naif area, Dubai, on Thursday. AFP

The Dubai Police updated the going out permits during the 24-hour movement restriction, as part of the national sterilisation programme, according to Brigadier Saif Mohair Al Mazroui.

According to the Dubai Police, residents are limited to applying for permit to go to the grocery shops or pharmacies once in three days. The journey to the ATM can only be once every five days, in order to enhance stay at home.

Al Mazroui indicated that cooperative societies, supermarkets and small groceries operate in all areas of Dubai.

He demanded that everyone buy enough food for more time so that they do not have to go out much because the goal of the movement restriction measures is to keep people in their homes to ensure their safety, reduce the chances of spreading the infection and facilitate and accelerate sterilisation operations carried out by the concerned authorities in the emirate and the country.

On April 4, Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management, in coordination with the Command and Control Centre for Combating COVID-19, announced the extension of the sterilisation programme to 24 hours a day across all areas and communities in the emirate to protect the health and safety of the community.

According to the new update on the website, https://dxbpermit.gov.ae/permits, community members can obtain a permit every five days to withdraw cash, or use an ATM, and it is not allowed to go out daily for this purpose.

The update initially asks the user of the site to specify the reason for requesting the permit if it is a business or personal and when clicking on the last option, he is asked to select one of three reasons: withdrawing from the ATM, buying food and medical supplies, or going out for an emergency.

He/she is then required to fill in name, type of identity, ID number, nationality and home address data to obtain a subsequent indication in the next step that he/she will not obtain a similar permit, before five days have passed. Consequently, he/she is asked to withdraw enough money in these days or carries out the transaction he/she needs, without the need to repeat it before that time limit.

The same procedure applies to exit permit seekers to purchase food supplies as they receive an alert in the next step that they will not obtain a similar permit until three days pass.