UAE: 7,164 vaccine doses administered in 24 hours

The UAE has administered 7,164 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 24.4 million.

This takes the rate of doses to 247.70 doses per 100 people.

Germany’s Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he expected the roll-out of a vaccine specifically against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus would be delayed for months, until autumn.

Speaking as he went into a Brussels meeting of EU health ministers, Lauterbach said: “September could be the target month.”

The EU relies mostly on mRNA Covid vaccines, particularly the one developed jointly by German firm BioNTech with US giant Pfizer.

The delivery of Omicron-specific vaccines had been expected early this year.

Shanghai, China's most populous city, on Tuesday again tightened the first phase of a two-stage Covid-19 lockdown, asking some residents to stay indoors unless they are getting tested as the number of daily cases rose beyond 4,400.

China's financial hub, home to 26 million people, is in its second day of a lockdown local authorities are carrying out by splitting the city roughly along the Huangpu River, dividing the historic centre from the eastern business and industrial district of Pudong to allow for staggered testing.

• UAE