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Opinion
Dubai has succeeded in its Covid-19 strategy where Hong Kong and Shanghai have failed
- By becoming an early adopter of vaccines, keeping borders open, and facilitating technological innovation, the UAE has seen swift economic recovery
- Hong Kong and Shanghai’s Covid-19 policies did not have the same results with Omicron as they did early in the pandemic, and have an adverse economic impact
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Chee Yik-wai is a Malaysia-based intercultural specialist, a serial social entreprenur who co-founded Crowdsukan focusing on sport for good.
Dubai is having a good year. Not only has it just concluded its Covid-delayed Expo 2020, which attracted over 24 million visitors worldwide, but it was also named Tripadvisor’s Most Popular Destination of 2022. All that without any strict travel restrictions.
Dubai shares many characteristics with Hong Kong and Shanghai. All three aspire to be a bridge between East and West, and strive for efficiency and openness, while politically not opting for a Western liberal democracy. Their recent performances on the global stage, however, could not be more different.
The UAE has proved one of the most resilient places globally in the face of Covid-19. It was ranked third in Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience ranking published last month, which ranks 53 countries on 12 indicators like quality of healthcare, virus mortality and ease of travel. It has become a role model for many countries aiming to fully reopen their economies by managing, so far, to stay open to visitors while keeping infections low.
By contrast, China is still opting for an isolationist “dynamic zero Covid” strategy, while Hong Kong’s latest reopening plan mandates a seven-day hotel quarantine for visitors, which is unlikely to help revive its tourism sector.
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