Coronavirus: UAE reports 347 new cases

People waiting for their turn to get the Covid-19 vaccine at the Ajman Society of Social and Cultural Development. All photos: Pawan Singh / The National

People arrive at the vaccination centre to receive shots of either Sinopharm or Pfizer-BioNTech.

Rashid Al Shamsi after getting his Covid-19 vaccine shot at the centre.

People in Ajman have responded to government calls to support the nationwide vaccination drive.

A man receives the Covid-19 vaccine at the Ajman Society of Social & Cultural Development centre.

Numbers of Emiratis getting vaccinated at the Ajman centre have increased significantly in recent months.

Muna Saqr Al Matrooshi, general director of Ajman Society of Social and Cultural Development, has welcomed the rise in Emiratis being vaccinated at the centre.

The UAE announced 347 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, pushing the total number of infections to 889,452.

Another 882 people beat the virus in the past 24 hours and overall recoveries climbed to 862,730.

No deaths were reported for the 18th consecutive day and the toll was 2,302.

The latest cases were identified from 275,579 PCR tests. More than 146 million tests have been conducted since the pandemic began.

According to The National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority, nearly 24.5 million vaccine doses have been administered since December 2020 and 96.97 per cent of the country's eligible population is fully vaccinated.

Globally, the BA2 variant of Covid-19 has driven a fresh surge of cases around the world, from the UK to America.

The number of people sufferers will go on to infect is believed to be 12, making it one of the most contagious diseases the world has ever seen.

BA 2 spreads faster than BA 1, around 30 per cent more according to estimates, which means it is easier to catch. Scientists think its extra mutations help make it more transmissible.