Coronavirus: UAE records more than 1,000 new cases

No deaths were reported

A woman receives a dose of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine at the Sikh temple in Jebel Ali. All photos: Pawan Singh / The National

Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara in Jebel Ali teamed up with Tamouh Healthcare to provide on-site Sinopharm vaccination for all UAE residents free of charge.

Guru Nanak Darbar hosted an event at the Sikh temple in Dubai to vaccinate 4,500 adults of various nationalities and religions in February.

A medic administers a shot of Sinopharm vaccine at the temple in Jebel Ali.

People wait to receive a shot of the Sinopharm vaccine at the temple.

The UAE reported 1,031 new coronavirus cases and 712 recoveries on Thursday. The highest number for four months, it is the first time cases have passed the 1,000 mark since February 14.

Officials said no one died in the past 24 hours from Covid-related illness.

The country has recorded 913,984 cases, 896,448 recoveries and 2,305 deaths since the first Covid-19 case was detected in the Emirates on January 29, 2020.

Widespread testing and tracing, stringent safety measures and a high vaccination rate have been credited for bringing down daily infections, but recently they have begun to rise again.

Cases reached a peak of close to 4,000 a day in January last year.

An additional 286,851 tests were conducted over the past 24-hour period, bringing the total number carried out since the beginning of the outbreak to more than 164 million.

Elsewhere, another Covid-19 vaccine is likely to be approved for use in the US after an expert committee voted in its favour.

The advisory committee of the US Food and Drug Administration decided that the benefits of the two-dose Novavax inoculation outweighed its risks.

Although the vote — 21 in favour with one abstention — does not mean the shot has emergency-use authorisation, this is likely to follow.

Development of the vaccine received $1.8 billion of American government funds, but it has yet to receive approval in the US, despite already having been administered in at least 41 other countries, reports say.