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Covid in UAE: Daily cases cross 1,000-mark

Over 107.8 million PCR tests have been conducted in the country so far

Published: Thu 23 Dec 2021, 1:56 PM

Updated: Thu 23 Dec 2021, 2:01 PM

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The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Thursday reported 1,002 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 339 recoveries and no deaths.

Over 107.8 million PCR tests have been conducted in the country so far.

The new cases were detected through 365,269 additional tests.

The total number of cases in UAE as on December 23 are 746,557, while total recoveries stand at 739,616. The death toll now stands at 2,154.

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Organisers of the Beijing Winter Olympics said on Thursday they expect a 'certain number' of Covid-19 cases in China due to foreigners arriving for the Games, and strongly urged participants to get vaccination boosters due to the spread of the Omicron variant.

The Games, set to run from February 4 to February 20, will take place in a "closed loop" in order to contain the spread of the virus in China, which has among the strictest Covid curbs in the world and has largely managed to contain local outbreaks.

"A large number of people from different countries and regions will come to China and the flow of people will increase. Consequently, a certain number of positive cases will become a high probability event," Han Zirong, vice president and secretary-general of the Beijing organising committee, told a press briefing.

China, which has all but shut its borders during the pandemic and will not allow overseas spectators at the Games, has reported five cases of the Omicron variant, including four from people coming from overseas.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 cases appear to have peaked in South Africa's Gauteng province about a month after the Omicron variant was first detected there and the impact of surging infections has been less severe than previous waves, scientists said on Wednesday.

Scientists from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) said that while more study was needed, the data from South Africa - whose experience is being closely watched around the world - told a "positive story" about the variant's severity.

Gauteng, South Africa's commercial hub, home to one of the continent's busiest airports and the region where Omicron first emerged, is now seeing a fall in daily cases and the percentage of positive tests, the NICD's Michelle Groome told a news briefing.

"Really we feel that this has persisted for over a week and that we are past the peak in Gauteng," she said.



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