Covid in UAE: Daily cases cross 2,500-mark

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Saturday reported 2,556 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 908 recoveries and one death.

Total cases as of January 1 stand at 764,493 while total recoveries are 745,963. The death toll rose to 2,165.

The country reported 16,365 active cases today.

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Australia started 2022 with a record number of new Covid-19 cases as an outbreak centred in the eastern states grew, and New South Wales eased its isolation rules for healthcare workers as the number of people hospitalised with the virus rose.

New South Wales, the most populous state, and Victoria both posted daily record case numbers of 22,577 and 7,442 respectively on Saturday, health department figures showed.

There were four deaths due to Covid in New South Wales and nine in Victoria, taking the national death toll from the pandemic to more than 2,250.

Meanwhile, Israel on Friday started giving fourth Covid vaccine shots to people with weakened immunity, becoming one of the first countries to do so in hopes of countering a case surge driven by the Omicron variant.

The effort comes almost exactly one year after Israel began a massive vaccination drive on the back of a data-sharing accord with US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.

Israel’s health ministry on Thursday approved giving a fourth shot for immunocompromised people, the same day that authorities reported more than 4,000 new cases of the disease, a high not seen since September.

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