Influencer defends her trip to Dubai, claims it was for ‘essential work’

She works as an online personal trainer from an apartment in Dubai

An influencer has defended her decision to travel to Dubai amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, claiming her visit is for 'essential work' purposes. Appearing as a guest on This Morning, Sheridan Mordew told hosts Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield that it was her 'job to motivate people'. https://twitter.com/thismorning/status/1354014175215955969?s=20 Challenged by Willoughby on the purpose of her visit, the 24-year-old from Sunderland replied, "What you've got to understand is it's my job. My job is to motivate people. "If I was gonna be lazy, if I was gonna sit back, if I couldn't be bothered to provide a service... sometimes it's a free service at the minute. I'm providing free workouts on my Instagram. "I could just sit back and think, 'Do you know what, I'll wait until gyms open'." An image of Mordew riding a camel in the desert was then shown to viewers, which prompted Willoughby to interject with "This image doesn't motivate me, it makes me utterly jealous". The influencer said she was simply being kind and helping to motivate people, when the hosts again interrupted. Willoughby said, "The NHS are encouraging people to stay home. You're saying 'be kind' - are you being kind to them, by encouraging others to travel for what you deem as essential work?" Many influencers have faced criticism after jetting off to Dubai during the ongoing pandemic, but for the majority of these individuals, they did so while it was legal. Non-essential travel to and from the UK has been discouraged since the start of the pandemic. However, the UK government only outlawed non-essential travel from 4am on Friday, 15th January. Dubai has, perhaps unsurprisingly, seen cases of Covid-19 skyrocket recently. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has seen more than 3,000 cases emerge over the past two weeks. As a result, the Wall Street Journal report that the health chief in the area has been fired.