In a video addressed in Hindi, Bollywood actor Salman Khan conveyed a special message to the Indian diaspora in the UAE, as the country continues its battle against COVID-19.
The Hindi cinema superstar, who has a large fan following in the Emirates, was roped in by the Abu Dhabi authorities to record this message to reach out to expats, many of whom are fans of Khan.
In the video message, Salman shared that he has shot many films as well as stayed in Abu Dhabi. It is a beautiful place with nice people, who will stand by you, he added.
He urged Indian expats to cooperate with the Abu Dhabi authorities, who would support them and would not abandon them, as they carried out their hygiene and testing programmes. “Do the right thing. Do what heroes do,” he said.
Khan appealed to Indians in Abu Dhabi to become heroes by being patient, staying home and going out only to buy essentials, in order to stay safe and keep their families safe.
In the video, tweeted by the Abu Dhabi Media Office last night, the superstar said people with symptoms should go to the nearest testing centres and get themselves tested. Tests are available for all, he added.
If you do test positive you will be well taken care of by the government of Abu Dhabi, said Khan, while asking people to cooperate in order to benefit from all the precautionary measures that have been put in place.
Abu Dhabi successfully completed its first phase of sanitisation and has kickstarted the second phase on May 16. Special testing facilities have been set up in the city for the purpose of checking thousands of workers every day.
As of yesterday, UAE had confirmed more than 23,000 cases along with over 8,000 recoveries and 220 deaths.
India extends lockdown till May 31
Meanwhile, the Indian government has extended the lockdown till May 31, due to a reported surge in coronavirus cases. They have however eased some restrictions in this fourth phase of the lockdown.
Though repatriation flights are continuing, stranded Indians wanting to fly back to UAE and those in UAE wanting to travel to India, will, unfortunately, continue to have to wait longer for their turn.
This is its third extension since the Indian government imposed a lockdown on March 25.