UAE administers over 6m doses of COVID-19 vaccine
UAE reports 3,434 new cases, 15 deaths; vaccination drive for senior citizens a huge success all over the country; US House clears $1.9tr pandemic bill; Sputnik V performs well against COVID mutations: Russia; Italy tightens curbs as virus cases surge.
The Ministry of Health and Prevention ( MOHAP) has announced that 81,790 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were given in the past 24 hours. The total number of doses provided up to Saturday stands at 6,015,089 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 60.82 doses per 100 people.
This is in line with the Ministry’s plan to provide the COVID-19 vaccine to all members of society and efforts to reach acquired immunity resulting from the vaccination, which will help reduce the number of cases and control the Covid19 virus.
The MOHAP also announced that it conducted 185,599 additional COVID-19 tests and detetcted 3,434 new coronavirus cases.
The Ministry also announced 15 deaths due to COVID-19 complications.
MOHAP also noted that an additional 2,171 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries to 379,708.
The ministry of community development( mo cd ), in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP), continued to carry out the vaccination campaign for senior citizens which was launched last January against COVID-19 all over the UAE.
Till Saturday, the campaign included Ajman, Dubai, Al Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain and Ras Al Khaimah.
The senior citizens vaccination campaign was launched on Jan.10 and achieved great response from hundreds of male and female senior citizens.
As part of its ongoing efforts, the campaign continues to deliver the vaccine to the largest numbers of senior citizens across the UAE to ensure their prevention against the coronavirus and receive two doses as per a timed schedule all over the UAE.
The US House approved a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill in a win for President Joe Biden, even as top Democrats tried assuring agitated progressives that they’d revive their derailed drive to boost the minimum wage.
The new president’s vision for flushing cash to individuals, businesses, states and cities batered by COVID-19 passed on a near party-line 219-212 vote early on Saturday.
That ships the massive measure to the Senate, where Democrats seem bent on resuscitating their minimum wage push and fights could erupt over state aid and other issues.
Democrats said the still-faltering economy and the half-million American lives lost demanded quick, decisive action. GOP lawmakers, they said, were out of step with a public that polling shows largely views the bill favourably.
A Russian trial testing the effectiveness of revaccination with the Sputnik V shot to protect against new mutations of the coronavirus is producing strong results, researchers said on Saturday.
Last month President Vladimir Putin ordered a review by March 15 of Russian-produced vaccines for their effectiveness against new variants spreading in different parts of the world.
“(A) recent study carried out by the Gamaleya
Centre in Russia showed that revaccination with Sputnik V vaccine is working very well against new coronavirus mutations, including the UK and South African strains of coronavirus,” said Denis Logunov, a deputy director of the centre, which developed the Sputnik V shot.
Results of the trial are expected to be published soon, but this was the first indication of how the tests are going. No further details were available yet.
Meanwhile, Italy’s government on Saturday ramped up restrictions in five of the country’s 20 regions in an effort to head off a rise in COVID-19 cases as scientists warned of a growing prevalence of highly contagious new variants.
Italy has established a four-tier colour-coded system (white, yellow, orange and red) which allows for measures to be calibrated according to infection levels, with assessments revised every week.
For the first time since the end of January, two regions — Basilicata and Molise — were shunted into the strictest red zone. This means bars and restaurants must be shutered, movement severely restricted and all but essential shops closed.
Three regions moved from yellow to orange zones: Lombardy and Piedmont, which are centred on the wealthy northern cities of Milan and Turin respectively, and the central coastal region of Marche.
In these areas restaurants and bars are closed except for take-aways and people are not allowed to leave their towns except for emergencies, work and health reasons.