COVID-19 closes borders, flights, schools and workplaces
The International Institute for Strategic Studies records that border closures and lockdowns began across the Gulf states in March 2020, with flights, public transport, schools and non-essential businesses suspended and curfews applied in several countries. Key decisions in GCC states were taken virtually from the outset, and by the end of April almost all of them had allowed non-essential businesses to reopen with social-distancing measures.
What it means for continuityA pandemic can remove both the workplace and the usual routes in and out at the same time. Organisations that could run critical work remotely, and that knew their dependence on imported goods, adapted fastest. The Gulf states import much of their food and medicine, so supply routes mattered as well.
Source: IISS, 25 June 2020