Coronavirus: Dubai to allow shopping malls, restaurants to reopen with restrictions

Dubai will allow shopping malls to partially open, and cafes and restaurants to resume operations during limited hours with a maximum capacity of 30 percent, according to Dubai Media Office.

Restaurants will be able to operate, but will not be allowed to serve shisha or buffets, according to a statement released on Thursday.

Shopping malls will be able to operate partially from 12 p.m. until 10 p.m.

Dubai's shopping centers include Mall of the Emirates, which has its own indoor ski slope, and Dubai Mall, one of the world's largest and lies next to Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest structure.

The statement added that Dubai would also resume public transportation services including subways starting Sunday April 26, with preventative measures including wearing facial masks and maintaining appropriate distance between passengers.

Men walk past a Reiss store at Dubai Mall shopping center in Dubai, February 5, 2012. (Reuters)

The United Arab Emirates announced Thursday its nationwide coronavirus curfew would be shortened by two hours to now run daily from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, according to state news agency WAM.

Dubai, one of the Gulf country's seven emirates, had been under a 24-hour curfew since March 26, to help stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The UAE has so far recorded more than 8,000 cases of the novel coronavirus, including 56 virus-related deaths.

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