UAE: 36,760 Covid vaccine doses administered in 24 hours

The UAE has administered 36,760 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 22.7 million.

This takes the rate of doses to 230.40 doses per 100 people.

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UAE residents have been reporting long queues at healthcare centres in recent days, due to the increased demand for Covid-19 PCR tests in the country.

While the country's airlines have tied up with local healthcare service providers, these agreements may not necessarily guarantee faster test results or priority for the outbound passengers.

Passengers who are unable to travel due to incomplete Covid-19 documentation or due to testing Covid-positive, however, do have the option to rebook their flights without penalty or claim a refund in some instances.

“Our generous waiver policy means that customers unable to make their originally booked flights due to incomplete Covid-19 documentation or a positive test result can rebook to fly later without penalty, or refund their ticket,” an Emirates spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Africa's top public health official said on Thursday that he was encouraged by the way that South Africa had handled its latest Covid-19 wave driven by the Omicron variant, adding that severe lockdowns were no longer the best way to contain the virus.

"We are very encouraged with what we saw in South Africa during this period where they look at the data in terms of severity," John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a news conference.

"The period where we are using severe lockdowns as a tool is over. We should actually be looking at how we use public health and social measures more carefully and in a balanced way as the vaccination increases."

South Africa experienced a steep rise in Covid-19 infections from late November, around the time it alerted the world to Omicron, with new infections peaking in mid-December at an all-time record.

• Dubai
• Abu Dhabi