A day after suspending non-essential surgeries at hospitals, Dubai's tourism department has halted all live entertainment at hotels and restaurants with immediate effect with the aim of controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the emirate.

Thousands of tourists flocked to Dubai in the past few months as authorities reopened economic activities across the emirate in the post-pandemic recovery phase. As normalcy is returning to Dubai with preventive measures in place, bands, dancers and live DJs have been performing clubs, bars and hotels. As per reports, hotel occupancy rates also increased over 70 percent in December 2020 with more than 70,000 travelers coming to the city for the holiday season.

But with an increase in tourists, the city-state of Dubai started showing signs of COVID-19 strain and infected cases began to surge.

A spike in infected cases across the UAE also raised concerns among countries like the UK and Israel which forced them to close down their travel corridors. Taking note of the development, Dubai Media Office on Tuesday issued a statement, assuring that the authorities are maintaining the highest levels of protection against the pandemic and adhering to all preventive measures in order to curb the spread of the disease.

However, after a thorough field inspection, Dubai's tourism department found an increase in the number of violations in entertainment activities across the emirate. The tourism department stated that it issued over 200 violations for "non-compliance" with COVID-19 measures and closed down 20 establishments in the last few weeks.

The department took cognizance of the situation and put out a statement on Thursday, suspending the issuance of new entertainment permits to bars and restaurants. According to the statement, the issuance of new permits for entertainment activities has been halted with immediate effect with the aim of protecting the health and safety of the public. Bars and restaurants would continue to operate for the time being.

"There is a stop to all events and entertainment in hotels and restaurants, and we are working to clarify any ambiguity as to what this means," said Khaled Fawaz al-Najjad, press office manager for the tourism department, as quoted by media reports.

Meanwhile, the UAE has launched the second-fastest COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the world, after Israel. As part of the campaign, the UAE authorities are vaccinating every member of the community over the age of 16 with the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese state-backed pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm. The UAE has announced that it aims to vaccinate more than half of its population of 9 million by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

In another development, the UAE authorities on Thursday approved the Russian COVID-19 vaccine "Sputnik V" for emergency use. In addition to these vaccines, the Dubai government is offering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to its citizens and residents. With an efficacy rate of about 95%, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been approved by Western regulators for general use.

Dozens of residents are participating in the vaccination campaign at Dubai's World Trade Center every day. This reflects their faith and confidence in the efforts of the Dubai authorities aimed at protecting their health and welfare against the COVID-19 disease. As per guidelines issued by Dubai authorities, community members can walk-in to the Center to get themselves vaccinated against COVID-19 for free.