The UAE on Saturday reported its highest number of coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period when new infections exceeded 1,000 for the first time.
The UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said a total of 1,007 cases had been recorded after it conducted 95,287 tests in the same period.
The total number of cases is now closing in on 79,000. The ministry added that there had also been 521 recoveries and one further death due to complications.
The Ministry of Health conducts 95,287 tests as part of its plans to expand the scope of the tests, and reveals 1007 new cases of the #Coronavirus, 521 recoveries and 1 death case due to complications.#CommitToWin pic.twitter.com/gcNOMnRyX4
— NCEMA UAE (@NCEMAUAE) September 12, 2020
Until last month, daily cases had been falling in the UAE since a previous peak of 994 cases in May, but numbers have jumped from 164 cases on August 3.
A tweet by the UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) said: “Today we have recorded the highest daily number of new cases. It is everyone’s responsibility to work together and overcome this stage.”
The figures come on the same day as Dubai Economy, in cooperation with Dubai Municipality and Dubai Tourism announced that a cafe in the Karama area was ordered to close for not adhering to the precautionary measures, specifically social distancing.
Dubai Economy, in cooperation with @DMunicipality & @dubaitourism, closed a café in the Karama area for not adhering to the precautionary measures, specifically social distancing. 7 shops in malls were fined for not complying with the precautionary measures. pic.twitter.com/8CnidUSQgc
— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) September 12, 2020
A statement added that seven shops in malls across Dubai were also fined for not complying with coronavirus measures.
On Thursday, NCEMA urged citizens and residents to be more vigilant.
It said factors associated with the recent increase in new cases were a leniency in abiding by rules of social distancing and face masks while some shopping malls failed to reduce capacity as instructed by authorities.
The authority also criticised many private schools in the UAE for not taking precautionary measures seriously despite being issued regulations by the Ministry of Health. More inspections are being planned to catch violators.
Coronavirus cases in the wider Middle East from Morocco to Pakistan have topped two million, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.
The caseload for the 21 countries has more than doubled since July 1, the UN agency said.
WHO listed the hardest-hit countries as Iran with more than 393,000 cases, Saudi Arabia with more than 320,000, Pakistan with just under 300,000 and Iraq with nearly 274,000.
It is now six months since the WHO declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic.
Worldwide, there have been more than 27.7 million confirmed virus cases, according to an AFP count based on official statistics, with the worst-hit region Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by Europe.
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