Coronavirus: UAE reports 317 Covid-19 cases, 323 recoveries, no deaths

Total active cases stand at 13,904

Published: Tue 24 May 2022, 1:55 PM

Last updated: Tue 24 May 2022, 2:02 PM

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Tuesday reported 317 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 323 recoveries and no deaths.

Total active cases stand at 13,904.

The new cases were detected through 221,440 additional tests.

The total number of cases in UAE as on May 24 are 905,468, while total recoveries stand at 889,262. The death toll now stands at 2,302.

Over 160.7 million PCR tests have been conducted in the country so far.

For the whole of 2021, Taiwan reported less than 15,000 locally transmitted cases. Now, it’s registering around 80,000 cases a day - a startling reversal after the effectiveness of its long-standing zero-Covid policy won it international praise.

“We could no longer achieve the goal of zero Covid because it was too contagious,” former vice president Chen Chien-jen, an epidemiologist, said in a video released by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party on Sunday. Most cases in Taiwan are of the less severe Omicron variant, with more than 99.7 per cent of cases exhibiting mild or no symptoms, he said.

“This is a crisis but also an opportunity, allowing us to walk out of the shadow of Covid-19 quickly,” Chen said.

Despite a peak of infection forecast for this week, the government is determined to end a policy that included largely closing its borders. It has relaxed restrictions, such as shortening mandatory quarantines, in what it calls the “new Taiwan model” - gradually living with the virus and avoiding shutting down the economy.

Meanwhile, Sweden is recommending a fifth Covid-19 vaccine dose for people with an increased risk of becoming seriously ill, including pregnant women and anyone aged 65 and over, authorities said Tuesday, adding that the country must “be prepared for an increased spread during the upcoming autumn and winter season.”

“The vaccine is our strongest tool for preventing serious illness and death,” Swedish Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren said, adding the pandemic is not over.