The Dubai Health Authority reduced the cost of the coronavirus Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests to 250 dirhams from a previous 370 dirhams, the authority announced on Sunday.

“The DHA reduced the cost of COVID-19 testing to make it more accessible to the public and encourage proactive medical examinations as a precautionary and preventive measure,” the authority said in a statement.

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It added that it “it will spare no effort to combat COVID-19 to ensure the safety of society and the health of its members.”

The move comes after a recent spike in the number of new coronavirus cases in the UAE. The country reported its highest daily number of infections on Saturday, when it detected 1,007 new cases.

The government had urged the public to take precautionary measures seriously, announcing that 88 percent of all coronavirus cases reported in the past two weeks had resulted from individuals failing to adhere to preventative measures such as social distancing and wearing masks.

One example was an individual who experienced coronavirus symptoms, but did not get a medical examination, and did not adhere to precautionary measures leading to the infection spreading to 45 people near him from three families, and the death of an elderly woman from his own family.

The UAE’s coronavirus tally stands at 79,489 confirmed cases, 69,451 recovered patients and 399 deaths as of Sunday, according to the Ministry of Health.

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