Coronavirus: UAE reports 3,014 new cases from 504,831 tests

Active cases in the country pass 50,000 for the first time

Expo 2020 Dubai has stringent safety measures in place to protect the public. All photos: Chris Whiteoak/ The National

The sprawling Dubai site has a series of robust protocols to safeguard the public.

Covid-19 safety rules are set out by Expo 2020 officials.

Expo 2020 Dubai has made vaccinations and boosters mandatory for staff, volunteers, contractors and service providers.

Visitors sanitise their hands for protection against Covid-19 at the world's fair.

Expo 2020 Dubai is committed to provide an enjoyable and safe experience for the tens of thousands of people who visit the site each day.

Live updates: follow the latest news on Omicron

The UAE recorded 3,014 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, pushing the total number of infections to 816,945.

The latest cases were identified from 504,831 PCR tests. More than a million PCR tests have been carried out in two days.

Another four people with underlying health conditions died, taking the toll to 2,204.

Health officials said overall recoveries stand at 764,731 after 1,067 patients recovered in the past 24 hours.

There are 50,010 active cases in the country.

According to the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority, more than 119 million tests have been carried out since the beginning of the pandemic.

Demand for tests has surged in the new year after Abu Dhabi introduced stricter entry rules and schools opened for the second term.

To achieve green status on the Al Hosn app, people in the UAE are now required to be fully vaccinated, with a booster shot, or have a negative PCR test result within the previous 96 hours.

As the Omicron strain widely circulates, infections around the world have soared, along with demand for PCR tests.

As of Wednesday, 23,141,751 vaccine doses have been administered since the beginning of December 2020 and about 93 per cent of the public are now fully vaccinated.