Web Report

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Friday reported 612 cases of coronavirus, along with 490 recoveries. No death was reported.

The new cases were identified after conducting additional 80,935 tests.

In a statement, the ministry highlighted its aim to continue expanding the scope of testing nationwide to facilitate the early detection of coronavirus cases and carry out the necessary treatment. So far, the country has done over 7.2 million Covid-19 tests and, these screenings are key to beating the pandemic.

Following the recent spike in positive cases authorities said they would seek to contain the virus in localised hotspots, instead of imposing nationwide restrictions.

They also suggested that the increase could lead to the return of the National Sterilisation Programme, which would restrict residents’ movement, especially at night, as streets and public facilities are sanitised.

Meanwhile, the UAE has been receiving a steady flow of passengers from India recently, showing signs that travel between the two countries is slowly returning to normal. Since a special air bubble was formed between India and the UAE, 70,000 to 80,000 Indian residents have already returned to the country.

While 8,000 to 9,000 seats are available daily on both Indian and UAE carriers, roughly, 3,000 passengers are travelling to India every day. However, prospective travellers are waiting to see if India will relax its stringent quarantine norms before planning their trip. In some cases, passengers are also waiting to see a dip in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country. As of Thursday, at least 3.8 million positive cases were reported in India.