Abu Dhabi: In a continuing spike in COVID-19 cases, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday reported the highest number of daily COVID-19 cases since June, as it recorded more than 2200 infections.
The UAE Ministry of Health on Sunday reported 2,234 cases of COVID-19 infections, 775 recoveries and no new deaths have been reported.
Cases in the Gulf country have seen a steady rise at slow rates in recent months, but the last time the number of daily infections was this high was at the end of June when the UAE reported 2,281 cases on June 11.
Daily cases had dropped to below 100 in October but started to climb again in December as tourists flocked to Dubai in the holiday period.
On December 28, in a media briefing on the pandemic, Dr Noura Al Ghaithi said the country is fully prepared and medical teams “are braced for all possible scenarios”. On the same day, Abu Dhabi tightened requirements to enter the Emirates, and decided to opt for full distance learning in schools and colleges during the first two weeks of January.
The Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Committee said that vaccinated people coming into Abu Dhabi must show the Al Hosn green pass, while those who have not been vaccinated must show a negative PCR test taken in the previous 96 hours. The new rules will come into effect from Thursday, December 30.
On December 20, Expo 2020 Dubai suspended some events that carry the risk of potential close contact as a precaution to curb COVID-19.
On December 21, 2021, UAE also made COVID-19 vaccine booster dose available to all people over the age of 18 amid growing concerns about Omicron.
The UAE remains one of the top countries in the world when it comes to vaccination rates, and has been able to report a low number of cases and deaths in recent months as it continues to open up for business.
High rates of testing and vaccination helped push the country to first place on Bloomberg’s COVID resilience rankings on November 30.