UAE: 1,491 vaccine doses administered in 24 hours

The UAE has administered 1,491 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in the past 24 hours.

The country's Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said the total doses administered now stand at 24.7 million.

This takes the rate of doses to 250.19 doses per 100 people.

Hong Kong on Thursday reopened beaches and pools in a relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, while China’s capital Beijing began easing quarantine rules for arrivals from overseas.

Hong Kong had closed water sports venues amid an outbreak of the highly transmissible omicron variant but has been tailing off restrictions as new case numbers fall. Deaths from Covid-19 have fallen from a high of almost 300 per day in March to zero in recent days.

Restaurants are also allowed to seat up to eight customers to a table — from four previously — and masks will no longer be required during outdoor exercise, a change that’s important mainly to organizers of group sporting events.

“We’re looking forward to Mother’s Day, and being able to have up to eight people sitting at a table,” said William So, assistant general manager of the London Restaurant, a long-time destination for traditional dim sum.

People are 1,000 times more likely to get Covid-19 from the airborne viral particles they breathe than from the surfaces they touch, according to a study.

The researchers from the University of Michigan (U-M) in the US collected air and surface samples during an environmental surveillance programme from August 2020 until April 2021 on their campus.

The study, published last week in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, looked at public spaces, including classrooms, rehearsal rooms, cafeterias, buses, gyms, student activity buildings, and ventilation and air ducts.

• Dubai
• Abu Dhabi