UAE in final stages of developing two types of coronavirus vaccine

The UAE is in the final stages of developing two types of Covid-19 vaccine.

Abdulrahman Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, said last night that the studies have entered phase three of the trials, which involve 15,000 volunteers.

“We are in the third stage of the study and clinical trials, and all conditions and requirements for the safety of volunteer participants will be fulfilled,” Mr Al Owais said.

If the trials are successful, the Emirates has plans to produce the vaccines.

The country has carried out 4.18 million coronavirus tests so far, which has helped to control the spread of the virus, a government spokeswoman said last night.

Another 344 new cases of coronavirus were announced yesterday in the UAE after 34,478 tests were conducted for the virus in the previous 24 hours, Dr Amna Al Shamsi said.

The new infections took the country’s total to 55,198 since late January.

A further 373 people recovered from the virus, taking total recoveries to 45,513.

One patient died of complications, taking the death toll to 334.

Dr Al Shamsi reiterated the need to follow rules and regulations to help curb the virus.

A new statistical platform providing credible data on Covid-19 has also been developed, an official from the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority said.

This will include the latest information on the number of cases in the country, charts and interactive maps that will allow users to identify the nearest health centre.

The information on the platform will be regularly updated by the statistics authority, the Ministry of Health and Prevention, and the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority.