Coronavirus: UAE reports 369 Covid-19 cases, 1,225 recoveries, no deaths

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Thursday reported 369 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 1,225 recoveries and no deaths.

Total active cases stand at 34,022.

The new cases were detected through 372,764 additional tests.

The total number of cases in UAE as on March 10 are 884,354, while total recoveries stand at 848,030. The death toll now stands at 2,302.

Hybrid versions of the coronavirus that combine genes from the Delta and Omicron variants - dubbed "Deltacron" - have been identified in at least 17 patients in the United States and Europe, researchers said.

Because there have been so few confirmed cases, it is too soon to know whether Deltacron infections will be very transmissible or cause severe disease, said Philippe Colson of IHU Mediterranee Infection in Marseille, France, lead author of a report posted on Tuesday on medRxiv ahead of peer review. His team described three patients in France infected with a version of SARS-CoV-2 that combines the spike protein from an Omicron variant with the "body" of a Delta variant.

Another two unrelated Deltacron infections have been identified in the United States, according to an unpublished report by genetics research company Helix that has been submitted to medRxiv and seen by Reuters.

On virus research bulletin boards, other teams have reported an additional 12 Deltacron infections in Europe since January - all with an Omicron spike and a Delta body.

Malaysia will reopen its borders fully from April 1 and allow entry without quarantine for visitors vaccinated against Covid-19, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Tuesday.

Malaysia has since March 2020 maintained some of the tightest entry curbs in Asia to try to contain coronavirus outbreaks, with most foreign nationals barred from entry and returning Malaysians required to undergo quarantine.

The Southeast Asian country will begin a transition to the endemic phase of Covid-19 from next month, Ismail Sabri said in a televised address.

The reopening follows similar steps taken by neighbours Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia, with quarantine waived for vaccinated travellers with negative Covid-19 tests before departure and after arrival.

• Dubai
• Abu Dhabi