World's largest mall in Dubai reopens

Dubai Mall is a key attraction of the city state that has built its wealth and world renown on mega-projects and a diversified economy to become a tourism and shopping hub, as well as for finance and real estate.

One of the world's largest shopping malls, Dubai Mall, has reopened under strict safeguards against coronavirus.

With more than 1,300 stores arrayed around a vast lake and overlooked by the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, Dubai Mall attracts some 80 million visitors a year and its reopening on Tuesday was a symbolic step as the country emerges from lockdown.

After a month-long closure, crowds have been far thinner, as expatriates and Emiratis roam the bright alleys that showcase everything from chic to bling.

The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a member, has registered more than 11,000 cases of coronavirus and nearly 100 deaths, and the easing of restrictions has started even though the daily number of new infections is on the rise.

For weeks, only the mall's grocery stores and pharmacies carried on working, but the UAE has now allowed malls, restaurants and even hair salons to reopen under social distancing rules.

Thermal cameras fixed to the ceiling around Dubai Mall record temperatures of passers-by.

Children aged between three and 12, and people of over 60 or in higher risk groups for the respiratory disease are not allowed in.

Protective masks are compulsory -- with staff sporting them both in ready-to-wear stores as well as high-end European designer boutiques.

The mall's cinema, skating rink and large fountains, which in normal times attract thousands of tourists packed in for evening shows, remain closed.

The mall is operating at 30 percent of capacity to ensure social distancing, and each shop displays the maximum number of people allowed in at a time -- from five to several dozen depending on size.

/ndtv/