Social gatherings, private parties to blame for virus surge: Dubai Police
DUBAI: Social gatherings and private parties have been the main cause of the surge in coronavirus cases in the UAE.
The Commander-in-chief of Dubai Police, Lt Gen Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, said that private parties and meetings are responsible for the rise in COVID-19 cases.
The Police Chief urged everyone to follow the precautionary measures and social distancing guidelines to curb the spread of the virus. The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) announced that it conducted 179,117 additional COVID-19 tests over the past 24 hours, using stateof-the-art medical testing equipment.
Ministry announced 3,579 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the UAE to 277,955.
Officials announced 9 deaths due to COVID-19 complications, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to 792.
Health authorities noted that an additional 4,166 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total number of recoveries to 251,484.
The ministry announced that 60,991 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the past 24 hours. The total number of doses provided up to today stands at 2,487,784 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 25.15 doses per 100 people.
The Department of Health — Abu Dhabi (DOH) has approved three new COVID-19 tests to be used in Abu Dhabi’s healthcare facilities’ emergency departments and urgent care centres.
The new tests provide faster results and will efficiently contribute to physicians’ decision-making when it comes to providing suitable treatment for patients.
The three new approved tests include the antigen test, the RT-LAMP test and the saliva test. The saliva test can be used for children in healthcare facilities if a nose swab is not possible.
The antigen test detects the antibodies that are produced by COVID-19 in the patient’s body via a nasal swab sample, which are labelled with a dye that can be measured and thus determine whether there is an infection within 20 minutes.
The RT-LAMP genetic test is distinguished by its ability to detect COVID-19 cases quickly compared to the PCR test. The test is conducted through a nasal swab collection to be placed under equal-tempered conditions. That will provide results within an hour.
Dr Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi, Undersecretary of DOH, said, “At DOH, we have dedicated our efforts to enabling Abu Dhabi’s healthcare sector to continue providing world-class quality and safe emergency services. To that end, we have approved a new set of diagnostic tests of COVID-19 that are based on global updates and the latest scientific developments in the detection of the COVID-19 virus to be used in emergency departments across the emirate.”