1st March 2022 Covid status

I wonder how long I will be writing these updates? Sure, they are "only" monthly at the moment, but still? We are two years into this now. Two. Years.
This might be one of the happier updates though, as finally some restrictions have started to let up!

The month of February saw Norway, Sweden and Denmark lift ALL restrictions at the beginning of the month. Covid is not considered a threat to society there anymore. In Europe more and more countries seem to now "live with it", and treat it as any other flu and no longer a pandemic.

Here in the UAE we got a bunch of changes all in one go over the weekend, tons of happy news in what they call the "Start of the recovery phase of the Covid-19 pandemic". Super positive wording, and when the announcements came one after the other, it felt like the best domino-effect ever! Check this out:

Firstly, the border controls to enter Abu Dhabi were removed yesterday (again), no more need to be EDE scanned or show a green Al Hosn or anything else there.
For international arrivals, Abu Dhabi airport will still test you on arrival (for free), but the quarantine and further testing requirements have been removed (as long as you are vaccinated). Also the online pre-arrival registration requirement and the whole Green List system is no more.
Government buildings now only require green Al Hosn (not a recent PCR, like before) and there is an increase in operating capacity for all events, attractions and premises to 90%.
For positive cases of Covid, there will be no more use of tracker watches; and another big change there is that now on day 11 after your positive test, your Al Hosn automatically turns green - without having to have the two negative tests. There is no more quarantine needed for close contacts, only testing. Good stuff.
The price of a PCR was also reduced today, to 40 AED.
Finally, after two full years of wearing masks everywhere (yes, at one stage even in our own car), one of the biggest changes - wearing them outside is optional! Aaahhh!

Yes, we still need to wear masks inside, keep doing PCR-tests on a regular basis and only drive three people in a car (they seem to have forgot about that restriction all together, ha ha) - but hey, it's big steps forward! If this is only the start, I am hopeful for many more changes to come!

Here are today's numbers:
* 478 new cases from 420,289 tests, lowest tally in nine weeks. We are on a very encouraging streak of daily recoveries exceeding new infections.
* No deaths reported, now for the third day in a row. Total deaths so far 2,301.
* Total cases to date in the UAE stands at 880,451
* 25,870 vaccine doses were given, which makes 95,94% of the population fully vaccinated.