Dubai’s Expo 2020 reveals 3 worker deaths from COVID-19

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai’s Expo 2020 has acknowledged for the first time that three workers died from the coronavirus over the course of building the world’s fair during the pandemic, as the prestigious event draws scrutiny of labor conditions in the United Arab Emirates. When asked at a press conference Sunday about deaths among Expo’s vast foreign labor force, an Expo spokesperson said three workers had died from the virus in addition to three from construction accidents, without specifying when. She declined to describe the extent of the coronavirus outbreak among workers. The UAE long has faced criticism from human rights activists over poor treatment of the legions of low-paid migrant laborers who power the country’s economy.