UAE: 7,232 vaccine doses administered in 24 hours

The UAE has administered 7,232 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 24.6 million.

This takes the rate of doses to 248.88 doses per 100 people.

This is in line with the Ministry's plan to provide the Covid-19 vaccine to all members of society and efforts to reach acquired immunity resulting from the vaccination, which will help reduce the number of cases and control the virus.

Britain will expand access to Pfizer's oral antiviral Covid-19 treatment to thousands more people by adding it to a trial to assess how best to use the drug in its highly vaccinated population, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Paxlovid, a combination of Pfizer's new pill with an older antiviral ritonavir, was made available to thousands of people with compromised immune systems in Britain in February.

Now Paxlovid is being added to the Panoramic national study in England, which is making antivirals available to a wide number of patients while collecting data on how the drugs should best be used in a vaccinated adult population.

Meanwhile, Queen Elizabeth said Covid-19 had left "one very tired and exhausted" as she talked to health workers and a former patient about her own experience of "this horrible pandemic".

Britain's 95-year-old monarch tested positive for Covid in February and was described as having had mild, cold-like symptoms. She later returned to light duties.

The queen, who is patron of the Royal London Hospital, spoke on a video call to National Health Service workers at the hospital who had helped to build and run a 155-bed unit to cope with a surge in patients needing help with their breathing.

• UAE