Another 1,289 cases of Covid-19 were recorded across the UAE on Tuesday. The country has recorded more than 1,000 new cases for 43 consecutive days. The latest infections were detected during 129,900 tests and increased the country's tally to 170,149. At least 768 patients were cleared of the virus, taking the number of recoveries to 155,667. More than 91 per cent of all cases in the UAE have ended in recovery. Four patients died of complications related to Covid-19 on Tuesday, increasing the death toll to 576. The number of active cases stands at 13,906 – a figure last recorded in mid-June after the country was recovering from a high of 17,173 active cases. The UAE has carried out about 16.9 million coronavirus tests in one of the world's largest screening campaigns per capita. During the country's regular briefing on Monday, officials said the UAE had one of the lowest infection rates compared with the volume of testing. Dr Omar Al Hammadi, spokesman for the briefing, said only 1 per cent of all tests conducted resulted in a positive result, which is lower than all of the EU, the Mena region and countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. He said the death rate in the UAE (0.3 per cent) was also significantly lower than in other parts of the world. As the UAE began a three-day public holiday, officials called for people to adhere to safety measures by continuing to wear face masks, physically distance from each other and generally avoid gatherings. "We call upon all citizens and residents to adhere to all precautionary measures as we do not want our National Day to be marred by violations and laxity in prevention, the results of which lead to dire consequences," he said. Dr Al Hammadi said the country's priority was to develop and distribute a safe vaccine against Covid-19 as soon as possible. He said the national campaign to inoculate frontline workers, people with chronic illnesses and the elderly was under way but that the shot would not be given to children or pregnant women until further analysis was carried out. Once that is completed, the scope of the vaccination programme will be expanded to include other groups. "Wearing a mask and maintaining physical distancing is paramount to protect ourselves from the virus but the vaccine will be our weapon to fight it head on," Dr Al Hammadi said.
