Health officials on Saturday announced a further 131,939 doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been administered across the county in the past 24 hours. Close to 1.8 million doses have been distributed since the UAE launched its immunisation drive last month. The government aims to inoculate half of the population by the end of March as part of a robust strategy to combat the spread of the virus. The country’s vaccine distribution rate now stands at 18.18 doses per 100 people. The UAE approved the nationwide use of China’s Sinopharm vaccine on December 9. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was introduced in Dubai two weeks later. The huge vaccination push comes as authorities seek to tackle a rise in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks. The UAE reported a record number of Covid-19 cases for the fifth day running as 3,432 infections were confirmed on Saturday. The latest increase in cases brought the country’s total to 249,808. A further 3,118 patients overcame the virus as the recovery tally climbed to 222,106. Seven more people died after contracting the virus as the country's death toll rose to 740.
