<b>Live updates: follow the latest news on </b><a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/coronavirus/2021/11/29/omicron-live-updates-covid-variant-vaccine-test-cases-travel/"><b>Covid-19 variant Omicron</b></a> The UAE reported 2,232 new cases of Covid-19 and 1,427 recoveries on Thursday. The daily caseload pushed the total number of infections to 851,537 and recoveries to 780,893. Health officials said two people died in the past 24 hours, raising the total to 2,232. The latest cases were identified from 491,658 PCR tests. More than 126 million tests have been carried out since the pandemic began. Cases were on a downward trend from January 27 to January 31 but went up slightly on February 1, 2, and 3. The National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management data shows 23.6 million vaccine doses have been given to citizens and residents, and 94.27 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated. On Wednesday, authorities announced children over 5 can now take the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/coronavirus/2021/10/22/pfizer-biontech-booster-shot-95-per-cent-effective/">Pfizer-BioNTech</a> vaccine. The Ministry of Health will make the shots available for children across the Emirates. Authorities approved the drug for that age group in November 2021 but appointments were not available until now. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/2022/02/01/dubai-offers-covid-19-vaccine-to-children-aged-5-and-above/">Dubai began taking bookings for children aged 5 to 11</a> from Tuesday. The <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/health/coronavirus-explained-what-is-the-sinopharm-vaccine-and-how-does-it-compare-to-global-alternatives-1.1126275">Sinopharm vaccine</a> for children between 3 and 17 has been available since August.