Dubai: Apple has temporarily closed its Dubai stores until January 13 due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
“Our stores in Dubai are temporarily closed till Thursday, January 13. We take this step out of an abundance of caution for everyone’s health and wellbeing, and we look forward to having our teams and customers back as soon as possible,” said an Apple spokesperson.
“The Apple store in Abu Dhabi’s Yas Mall is open and operating normally,” the spokesperson added.
Apple, which recently hit a $3 trillion valuation, is among the three largest smartphone markers in UAE and the Gulf region. According to research firm IDC, Samsung led the Gulf smartphone market in the third quarter in terms of shipments with 44.1 per cent share, followed by Apple (18.8 per cent share) and Xiaomi (13.9 per cent share).
Last month, Apple said it closed all of its 12 New York city stores to indoor shopping as cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant surged across the United States, according to media reports.
Globally, COVID-19 cases have surged, mostly due to the highly-transmissible ‘Omicron’ variant. UAE’s daily cases have crossed the 2,500 mark and government authorities are bringing back some restrictions to control the further spread of the virus.
