Dubai Police have confirmed you no longer have to wear a mask while driving in the UAE if you are alone in the vehicle.
Brigadier Saif Muhair Al Mazroui, Director of Traffic Department at Dubai Police, said if the driver is alone in the car, it is not compulsory to wear a mask.
If there is more than one person, masks must be one be each individual. Drivers caught with anyone in their vehicle without a mask will be warned and potentially fined.
Over 10,200 fines were issued for failure to wear medical masks or maintain social distancing between March 26th and April 16th according to the Dubai Police.
However, Brigadier Al Mazroui said that Dr Farida Al Hosani, spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Prevention, had stressed the importance of all wearing a mask even if they don’t display any symptoms.
“We issued a circular on the importance of wearing masks inside cars. Dubai Police issued warning fines to drivers who are not wearing masks while driving with other passengers as part of the precautionary measures,” Brig Al Mazroui said.
A warning fine is a warning which precedes a fine if the offence has been repeated.
Those caught not wearing a mask will be fined AED 1,000 as per the Dubai Police.
“We issued warning fines at the beginning for the public so that people wouldn’t claim that they didn’t know about the order,” he said.
“If a person doesn’t comply with the order, then a real fine will be issued.”
