Coronavirus: UAE reports 1,615 Covid-19 cases, 2,219 recoveries, 4 deaths

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Tuesday reported 1,615 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 2,219 recoveries and four deaths.

Total active cases stand at 69,846.

The new cases were detected through 482,477 additional tests.

The total number of cases in UAE as on February 8 are 860,976, while total recoveries stand at 788,861. The death toll now stands at 2,269.

The UAE’s daily Covid-19 cases dipped to its lowest this year on Monday as the country recorded 1,704 infections on February 7. Additionally, the number of recoveries (1,992) was higher than infections for the first time in weeks.

Daily infections breached the 2,000-mark on December 29 last year. This was days after the country had successfully brought down the number of daily cases to less than 50 on December 6. It crossed the 3,100-mark in mid-January, 2022, before stabilising just over the 2,000-mark.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong will limit public gatherings to two people and close sites such as churches and hair salons, leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday.

Existing social distancing measures will be extended to February 24. These include a ban on dining in restaurants after 6pm and the closure of gymnasiums and cinemas.

At the Beijing Olympics, more than 30 athletes are in isolation facilities after testing positive for the coronavirus, organizers said Tuesday.

The average stay in isolation is seven days.

However, China will invite more spectators to attend the Winter Olympics within the "closed-loop" bubble, which separates all event personnel from the public.

China did not sell tickets to the public amid concerns over the spread of the pandemic but selected a number of spectators from targeted groups of people who are required to undertake strict Covid-19 prevention measures.

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UAE's national carrier Etihad Airways is set to recommence passenger services between Abu Dhabi and Morocco from March.

Services between Abu Dhabi and Morocco will resume from March 3, 2022.

Guests travelling to Morocco must be fully vaccinated at least 14 days before travel and take a PCR test no more than 48 or 72 hours before their flight departure time depending on their country of origin.

• UAE