Coronavirus: UAE records 1,520 cases as 80% of population get one vaccine dose

UAE's vaccine programme passes key milestone

A new drive-through offering Covid-19 vaccination and testing has opened in Abu Dhabi.

Seha said the centre can administer 200 vaccinations and carry out 1,000 nasal swabs and laser tests per day.

The new centre was built utilising shipping containers, similar to the centres recently opened in Al Sarouj in Al Ain and Al Manhal in Abu Dhabi.

All Seha centres offer Sinopharm and Pfizer vaccines.

The new Seha-run centre in Rabdan has six lanes that cater for vaccinations, nasal swabs and DPI laser-based testing.

READ MORE: All the latest Covid-19 news on our liveblog

The UAE reported 1,520 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday after an additional 273,251 tests.

The latest caseload takes the number of infections recorded since the start of the pandemic to 690,009.

It came as UAE authorities said 80.10 per cent of the UAE population had received one Covid-19 vaccine dose while 71.71 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Authorities said it had passed the 80 per cent milestone on Friday evening.

Mass testing and one of the world's fastest vaccination programmes have been integral to the UAE's handling of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, two people died of Covid-related causes in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 1,969.

Another 1,481 people overcame the virus, taking the number of recoveries to 667,074. Active case numbers are now 20,966.

Daily case numbers have dropped sharply in the UAE over the past few months after reaching close to 4,000 in January.

Meanwhile, hundreds of pupils and university students in Abu Dhabi have been immunised against Covid-19 at a pop-up clinic for over-12s that opened at Yas Mall last week.

The temporary centre was launched by Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge in partnership with the emirate’s Department of Health, Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre and Yas Mall.