What about IT?
How bad has covid effected the middle east in terms of economy and death?
My best friend there, a literal 6 fig 6 cert breh in his early 30s, worked in IT and he got laid off.
By non-essential i pretty much mean anyone that isn't specifically upstream (extraction of raw materials/rig work) or downstream (making products from raw materials, and/or selling that shyt).
The Covid numbers weren't as bad as the states but there was some spike ups during some of the religious holidays (Ramadan and the first Eid back in May) because of the nature of what goes on at night after the fasting (or that's my rationale).
The economy definitely took a hit. Dubai got fukked over pretty hard; one because they're economy is very tourist based and they were already leaking a bit before Covid. Expo 2020 Dubai was supposed to be a huge thing for them (it'd been hyped up for a couple years now) but of course it's now delayed. A huge number of Emirates cabin crew and pilots got laid off as well, because no flights.
In the other Arabic countries, the local restaurants and businesses got hit hard similar to the states, bc of shutdowns. Most things are opened up again (malls, gyms, barbershops, etc) but with temperature checks and strict social distancing and mask rules. Most of us expats are just waiting on borders to open up for leisurely internationally flights, as right now it's still just one-way trips.