Coronavirus: UAE reports 1,352 Covid-19 cases, 506 recoveries, 1 death

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Friday reported 1,352 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 506 recoveries and 1 death.

Over 108.2 million PCR tests have been conducted in the country so far.

The new cases were detected through 361,321 additional tests.

The total number of cases in UAE as on December 24 are 747,909, while total recoveries stand at 740,122. The death toll now stands at 2,155.

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The National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Emergency Management Authority (NCEMA) and the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) have announced the suspension of all inbound flights for national and international carriers and transit passengers from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Nigeria from Saturday, December 25, effective 7.30am.

This includes suspending the entry of travellers who were in the four countries 14 days before coming to the UAE, while flight operations will continue to transport passengers from the UAE to the same countries.

Meanwhile, India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has issued new guidelines for domestic and international passengers travelling to Delhi in view of the rising cases of Covid-19.

As per the guidelines, thermal screening of all passengers will be done on arrival. Random sample collection will be done for passengers arriving from states witnessing a spurt in Covid-19 cases. People will only be allowed to exit after the sample collection.

In the same vein, America's United Airlines and Delta Air Lines on Thursday said they had each cancelled dozens of Christmas Eve flights, as the spreading Covid-19 Omicron variant takes a toll on its flight crews and other workers.

Chicago-based United cancelled 120 flights for Friday, while Atlanta-based Delta said it has cancelled about 90. Both said they were working to contact passengers so they would not be stranded at airports.

"The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation. As a result, we’ve unfortunately had to cancel some flights and are notifying impacted customers in advance of them coming to the airport," United said.

• Dubai