Covid-19 cases in the UAE cross 650

The UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) reported 665 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the total number of infections in the country to 745,555.

The new infections were detected after conducting 398,972 tests over the past 24 hours.

According to the ministry, the infected individuals are from various nationalities, are in a stable condition, and receiving the necessary care.

#UAE announces 665 new #Covid19 cases, 294 recoveries and no deaths in last 24 hours #WamNews pic.twitter.com/idTJnTQ1W3

— WAM English (@WAMNEWS_ENG) December 22, 2021

The ministry added that no deaths have been recorded in the past 24 hours, with the total number of deaths in the country remaining at 2,154.

MoHAP also noted that an additional 294 individuals had fully recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 739,277.

Earlier this week, the UAE stressed that it is monitoring the situation and developing “efficient testing protocols” to curb the spread of the virus.

Speaking at a media briefing on the pandemic on Tuesday, Dr Noura Al Ghaithi, official spokesperson of the Health Sector, said that the UAE is following a model of precautionary measures to contain the virus and its variants.

“In light of the surge in infection rates in the country compared to previous weeks and months, we stress that the health and medical situation in all the country’s hospitals are stable,” official news agency WAM quoted her as saying.

“More than 55 per cent of the hospital and ICU beds are empty, and the Covid-19 bed occupancy rate is below 3 per cent,” she added.

Read: Covid-19 bed occupancy rate in the UAE is below 3% – official

The UAE is also set to adopt the green pass system from January 3, which will require all employees and the public wishing to access federal government departments to have a green pass on their Al Hosn app. To get the green pass, individuals will need to be fully vaccinated (with the booster dose) and also have a negative PCR test result once every 14 days.

Read: UAE says green status required on Al Hosn app to access federal government offices