The United Nations General Secretariat hailed the digital initiatives taken by the UAE leadership in the efforts to contain the spread of Coronavirus and mitigate the health, social and economic repercussions of the pandemic. In the "Compendium of Digital Government Initiatives in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic," launched by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)on October 6, the international organisation noted that the initiatives taken by the UAE have emerged as a global model on harnessing digital solutions and benefitting from them to combat the pandemic.

The compendium enlists various digital strategies used by world governments through campaigns and chatbots to disseminate accurate and reliable data and information about Coronavirus and ways to combat disinformation, fake news, and viral hoaxes. In addition, it also contains details about emerging trends in the digital responses of the United Nations Member States in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic, providing a preliminary analysis of their prominent efforts in the process.

Responding to the development, Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General of UN DESA, asserted that throughout the fight against COVID-19 in the past few months, digital technologies enabled various governments to connect and communicate with people such that they were able to continue delivering their services online. He further noted that there were many countries where digital governance strengthened the central role of the administration as a key component of communication, leadership and collaboration between policymakers and society. Liu Zhenmin highlighted that government officials from countries around the globe shared details about at least 500 COVID-19 related applications when UN DESA called them for inputs for the compendium.

"As the pandemic progressed, policymakers responded by mobilising public-private partnerships to engage in designing new services and apps as part of the crisis response. Some of these new services and apps went beyond information-sharing and included delivering essential services to those most in need, thus optimising the entire supply chain via digital government services,'' he added.

As per a WAM report, the compendium lists the details of hand-picked initiatives of various countries in nine major categories of action areas, which are: Information sharing; E-participation; E-health; E-business; Social distancing and virus tracking; Contact tracing; Working and learning from home; Digital policy; and Partnerships.

The UAE government has also been proactive in issuing a set of decisions to ensure the health and safety of citizens, residents and travellers as part of the national response against the pandemic crisis. Some of these initiatives include:

Volunteering: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE government formed the Higher National Committee for Regulating Volunteering. Furthermore, a nationwide volunteer initiative was launched to assist the authorities in combating the spread of the virus. Under this initiative, individual volunteers, groups, or any organisation can get themselves registered online on Volunteers.ae following which the government organisations find them through the portal. It also publishes details of various opportunities and criteria needed for volunteers to help them understand and review the event and their proficiencies before applying. The initiative also helps in recognising volunteers through awards and incentives which contributes to boosting their online volunteering profile.

MAP for COVID screening centres and health facilities: The Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority launched the MAP Health Facility Locator app to enable people to locate newly launched COVID-19 screening drive-through centres and other medical facilities across the UAE including hospitals, clinics and health centres. Through the app, users can search for details of healthcare facilities, its location, among other things for their benefits.

“Don't Worry” campaign: It is a national campaign launched by the UAE’s National Program for Happiness and Wellbeing (NPHW) aimed at providing free online mental health support to all UAE residents in need. It helps them in coping with adverse psychological effects in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative is backed by more than 50 professional experts in the fields of psychology, mental and social support, and life skills offering assistance to people dealing with mental health issues.

TRA initiatives: The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) launched various initiatives to contribute to the efforts of the government to ensure public adherence to precautionary measures amid ongoing pandemic circumstances,. TRA initiatives helped in boosting the ICT sector that led to the flourishing of digital transformations across various sectors. Some of the initiatives launched by TRA included the provision of 14000 student devices in public schools, free internet data via mobile phone to enable remote-online learning, voice messages while making a call spreading awareness about the pandemic, SMS alerts to UAE national abroad and increasing fixed broadband speed to 100 Mbps.

AlHosn application: The AlHosn application assisted people in home quarantine with necessary regulations and instructions to ensure their health and wellbeing and protecting society. The app is enabled with short-distance Bluetooth signals to provide necessary information when your phone is near another phone using the app and whether they are around people who have been infected with COVID-19. Every user gets their own QR code providing information about their health. It helps them in interacting with others with safety and visiting public places with more reassurance.

Remote working technology initiative: As part of the digital agenda of the Abu Dhabi authorities, the Department of Government Support launched and enabled remote working tools such as integration of the ‘Microsoft Teams’ system in the public sector of the emirate. The Microsoft Teams system provides various features to people working remotely that facilitate cooperation and communication between work teams through secure channels. Significantly, the system is easily available in a wide range of devices including, desktop, mobile, and laptop. As of now, more than 50 government entities in Abu Dhabi are using this technology with more than 40,000 officials adopting it in their day-to-day work activities.

UAE virtual labour market: It was developed by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) in collaboration with the private sector. Supervised by MOHRE, the market is designed to support the non-UAE workforce within the country who have been critically impacted by the precautionary measures initiated by the authorities in the response against COVID-19. It enabled job seekers to register on the website and apply for available job opportunities advertised by employers in accordance with their capabilities.

Ministry of Education's e-learning initiative: The Ministry of Education tested various platforms and launched a wide range of strategies to create a smart learning environment amid the pandemic restrictions.

Cultural activities of the Sharjah Sports Council: The public sports club undertook various initiatives to remotely involve all members of society in cultural and community work amid quarantine restrictions. These initiatives included the Holy Quran competition, Cubes competition, remote book summarisation competition, and virtual Ramadan Council.

Digital Month: The "Digital Month" initiative was launched by the Abu Dhabi government in the month of March 2020 in line with the vision of the UAE leadership to utilise Information Technology in serving the community and diversifying government services for the public. More than 45 Abu Dhabi government entities have participated in various events and activities of the ‘Digital Month’ initiative, yielding impressive results with a significant 94% jump in the transition towards digital services across the emirate. At the same time, there was an 83% rise in online transactions and a 25% increase in the total number of visits to digital channels.

Today, more than 1,000 services are provided by government institutions across various digital channels which led to the completion of more than 8 million transactions in the final quarter of 2019. Evidently, digital transformation has provided added value across multiple levels of the institutions saving more than 300,000 days of work for government employees and 16 million customers visits.

Robots and drones: The UAE government used drones, robots, self-help temperature scanners, contactless infrared thermometers, and various other tools and technology to ensure public compliance with social distancing norms amid the pandemic lockdown.

WAM