OBJECTIVES: Alpha, delta and omicron variants of SARS‐CoV‐2 attacked the United Arab Emirates in 2020, 2021 and 2022 respectively. This study evaluates how these three variants affect hospital usage and performance in the United Arab Emirates.

METHODS: Based on the Open Data of the Emirates Health Services, the sample contains 16 hospitals across five emirates including Dubai, Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah. Hospital usage and performance are measured by bed occupancy rates and hospital mortality rates respectively. Original Least Squares regressions are conducted to estimate the impacts of outbreaks of alpha, delta and omicron variants on hospital usage and performance.

RESULTS: The outbreak of alpha variant reduces the bed occupancy rate by 8.96%, but the outbreaks of delta and omicron variants increase the bed occupancy rate by 4.80% and 4.16% respectively. The outbreak of delta variant raises the hospital mortality rate by 1.97%, whereas the outbreaks of alpha and omicron variants are related to a 0.28% drop and a 0.17% decline in the hospital mortality rate respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Different SARS‐CoV‐2 variants impact differently on hospital usage and performance in the United Arab Emirates. The negative outcomes of alpha variant on bed occupancy and mortality indicate that alpha variant does not induce hospital overcrowding in the United Arab Emirates. This is because the government implemented a series of strict lockdown policies to protect the healthcare system during this outbreak. The outbreak of delta variant causes a rise both in bed occupancy and mortality. The reason is the removal of lockdown restrictions with a low vaccination coverage. Although the outbreak of omicron variant brings more bed occupancy, there is a declined mortality rate in this outbreak because of an increased vaccination rate.