Researchers from the Abu Dhabi Center for Public Health and Institute of Public Health of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences of the United Arab Emirates University have examined the COVID-19 mass testing program, implemented across the UAE.
The mass program is used to control the spread of the infection and reduce the death toll, and the study aimed to evaluate the testing program and its impact on reducing the spread of the pandemic.
The results from the study showed that although it is difficult to analyse the impact of all the measures set by the World Health Organisation for governments to reduce the impact of epidemics, mass testing conducted in the UAE was useful in containing the virus and reducing the death toll.
Her Excellency Dr Farida Al Hosani, Executive Director of Infection Diseases Sector in Abu Dhabi Public Health Center, Official Spokesperson for Health Sector in the UAE said, “The adoption of technologies helped the country rapidly upgrade its testing capabilities and diagnostic methods. Some of the key success drivers of the UAE’s response to the pandemic include improving monitoring and early detection by expanding the number of surveillance team field medical teams, investing in laboratory capabilities to accelerate testing by adopting high quality labs and establishing drive-through centers across the country, the unified study with UAEU proofed this success.”