Covid- 19: UAE has one of the lowest death rates

Surge in cases is part of global pattern due to gradual return to normal life, official says

The surge in cases in the UAE is part of a global pattern due to the gradual return to normal life and resuming of economic activities, but recoveries are rising as well, Dr Farida Al Hosani, spokesperson for the UAE health department, said at a press briefing yesterday.

Dr Omar Al Hammadi, spokesperson for the government, who also addressed the briefing reviewed some statistics and figures on the health situation from October 14 to 20.

The number of deaths was 22 [ over the past 7 days], at a rate of 0.4 per cent, one of the lowest in the world. In addition to this, the rate of positive cases in comparison to total tests remains at just 1 per cent.

A 9 per cent increase in recovery was also recorded over the time period, bringing the total number of cures to 10,306.

Dr Al Hammadi added that 769,096 nationwide tests revealed a 15 per cent increase in confirmed cases, bringing the number of cases to 8,986.

Dr Al Hosani called the community to help health authorities in identifying infections.

Vaccine development

Speaking about a vaccine, Dr Hosani said there are three objectives in its development: Preventing a new infection, preventing dangerous complications, and limiting transmission from an infected person.

She pointed out that there are different types of vaccines, where some are made up of inactive particles of the germ, others are made of an attenuated form of the germ, while some are genetically modified proteins that resemble the real germ proteins.

Regardless of these components, the function of the vaccine is to induce the immune system to recognise the pathogen and combat it when it enters the human body, she said.