COVID-19 violations: 2 shisha cafés shut in Dubai

Dubai: Two Dubai shisha cafés have been shut for violating COVID-19 safety precautions.

Dubai Municipality on Thursday announced the closure of the two shisha cafés after the inspection visits conducted on Wednesday. The closed cafés are located in Hor Al Anz and Al Nahda.

The civic body also issued fines to four establishments and warnings to 49 others for not complying with the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Of the inspections visits to 2,439 business premises on November 4, as many as 2,384 establishments were found to follow the approved requirements, the municipality said on Twitter. On October 19, the municipality had announced that two shisha cafés in Al Quoz were shut for COVID-19 violations.

Earlier on August 9, the civic body had revealed the closure of eight shisha cafés and fines for 133 of them for violations, mostly related to not following COVID-19 precautionary measures.

Violations since July 18 — when shisha cafés were allowed to reopen — included the use of expired honeyed tobacco products and allowing in persons under 18.

Campaign intensified

Since the reopening, the municipality intensified its inspection campaigns to ensure the highest level of compliance.

Municipality inspectors detected a set of violations committed by cafés during the period, such as failure to adhere to the precautionary measures related to COVID-19, especially with regards to not keeping the distance between people or tables, allowing overcrowding inside the cafés, non-compliance with hygiene practices — such as more than one person sharing a shisha — and the use of multiple-use pipes instead of single-use.

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