Coronavirus: UAE reports 1,161 Covid-19 cases, 1,493 recoveries, 2 deaths

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Wednesday reported 1,161 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 1,493 recoveries. Two deaths were also reported.

As many as 116,083 new Covid-19 tests were carried out, taking the total to more than 13.58 million tests in the country so far.

Sheikh Mohammed receives Covid-19 vaccine

Yesterday, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, received a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. "We ask God to protect everyone and heal everyone," Sheikh Mohammed said in a post shared on his official Twitter account. He posted a photo in which he can be seen receiving the vaccine in his shoulder. "We appreciate the efforts of the teams that worked hard to make our country one of the first to receive the vaccine for this virus. The future is always better and more beautiful in the United Arab Emirates," Sheikh Mohammed said. The UAE's frontline heroes, ministers and top officials have been receiving the Covid-19 jab after the UAE granted approval for emergency use.

Abu Dhabi private schools to resume campus learning from January

Abu Dhabi private schools will start welcoming students in full strength starting January 2021, government authorities announced on Tuesday. On August 30, schools in Abu Dhabi had reopened and started receiving students in phases along with the option of online learning for the first semester of the academic year. However, according to the new announcement, schools will have classrooms full of students from January, coinciding with the start of the second semester of the academic year. On Tuesday, Abu Dhabi Government Media Office in a statement said the Abu Dhabi Emergency Crisis and Disasters Committee for Covid-19 Pandemic and the Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek) have agreed that private schools in Abu Dhabi will welcome all students back to classrooms from January.

Covid-recovered patients could get infected again: UAE govt spokesperson

It is possible for people to get infected even after recovering from Covid-19 or taking the vaccine under the clinical trial, the UAE authorities said on Tuesday. Dr Omar Al Hammadi, the official spokesperson for the UAE government, explained that the antibodies that the body develops after a Covid infection or after receiving the jab have various life spans. “Some of the antibodies can last for life and some last for a specific period after vaccination or infection,” Al Hammadi said during the Press briefing. He added that viruses also change and mutate over a period of time, which may affect one’s immunity.

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• Abu Dhabi