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Review
. 2021 May 12:9:661134.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.661134. eCollection 2021.

A Review of COVID-19 Mass Testing in the United Arab Emirates

Farida Al-Hosani  1 , Shereena Al-Mazrouei  1 , Shammah Al-Memari  1 , Zain Al-Yafei  2 , Marília Silva Paulo  3 , Erik Koornneef  3
Affiliations
Free PMC article
Review

A Review of COVID-19 Mass Testing in the United Arab Emirates

Farida Al-Hosani et al. Front Public Health. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Appropriate diagnostic testing to identify persons infected with SARS-COV-2 is a vital part of a health system's ability to control the global pandemic of COVID-19 disease. The primary purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the mass testing strategy implemented throughout the UAE and the overall impact it has made on containing and controlling the spread of the disease. This study describes the mass testing strategy and capacity of the UAE during the pandemic of the new coronavirus SARS-COV-2. The UAE has conducted 15 million polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to SARS-COV-2, as of 15 November 2020. The number of tests per day varied from 10,000 by the end of March to 120,000 tests per day in November 2020. The mass testing initiative across the entire UAE forms an integral part of a bigger strategy focusing on testing, tracing contacts and isolating positive cases.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; United Arab Emirates; mass testing strategy; public health policy; public health strategy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Daily number of COVID-19 tests in the UAE. Source: UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Daily COVID-19 positivity rate in the UAE. Source: UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total number if COVID-19 tests per thousand inhabitants. Source: Our World in Data.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Average monthly COVID-19 test positivity rates. Source: Our World Data.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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