UAE records 593 Covid-19 cases in highest daily tally since February

Daily infections have risen in recent days but remain well below those reported at the start of the year

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  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

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

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

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

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

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

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  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 reported 593 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, the highest daily tally since February 28.

Another 506 people recovered from the virus and no deaths were recorded.

A total of 909,815 cases, 893,193 recoveries and 2,305 deaths have been confirmed since the start of the pandemic in late January 2020.

The latest cases were detected as a result of 231,286 PCR tests.

Close to 163 million tests have been conducted in the country.

Mass testing and a vaccination drive have been central to the UAE's pandemic recovery strategy.

On Thursday, authorities announced “100 per cent of the target groups in the country” now fully vaccinated against the virus.

The UAE launched its inoculation campaign in December 2020.

More than 24.9 million vaccine doses have since been administered to the public.

Infection rates have increased for three consecutive days — from 381 on May 31.

But daily figures still remain well below those reported at the start of the year, when case numbers topped 3,000 several times in January.