The UAE reported 1,278 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, taking the total tally of infections to 133,907. Health officials said 1,606 patients were cleared of the virus. So far, the country has recorded 130,508 recoveries. One death was announced, taking the total number of mortalities to 496. The latest infections were identified as a result of 112,546 tests conducted in the past 24 hours. Almost 13.3 million Covid-19 tests have been performed in the UAE to date. The number of active cases across the country fell to a 205-day low of 2,903 after more recoveries exceeded new cases in the past couple of weeks. The last time the number of active cases fell below 3,000 was on April 10. Daily cases remained above 1,000 for all but two days of October, including a record high of 1,578 on October 22. Recoveries have consistently outstripped new cases, however, topping 1,000 every day last month. On Saturday, Mohammad Al Gergawi, the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, became the latest minister to receive the Covid-19 vaccine. Other ministers to have been inoculated include Sheikh Saif bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, and Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence. The jab has been administered to frontline medical workers, senior officials and some members of the Cabinet since receiving approval for limited use in the UAE in September. Large Phase 3 tests showed the vaccine is safe and generates antibodies that fight the virus. In Europe, more countries announced lockdowns after a surge in cases. Minutes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new lockdown for England, Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa said 70 per cent of the population of his country would be going back into lockdown. Austria also announced a second lockdown on Saturday, and Greece said it would enter a partial one. Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said it was time to act “before intensive care units buckle under the strain of lives in danger”. Restaurants and bars, gyms, museums and cinemas in Athens and other large cities will be closed from Tuesday. The announcement came a day after France started its second lockdown and Belgium said it would tighten restrictions to combat rising infections. Globally, Covid-19 cases have passed 46 million, while recoveries exceeded 33.5 million. The world death toll has passed 1.2 million.
