On Sunday, the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, announced conducting over 71,000 more Covid-19 tests. The ministry issued a statement saying that it plans on expanding its testing drive across nation for early detection of Covid infection cases, as it would help the country’s medical staff in timely initiation of necessary treatment. The key goal of the ministry is to bring the fatalities down to zero.

As a consequence of the extensive testing campaign, the MoHAP reported 716 new Covid-19 cases and 704 recoveries on Saturday. Besides, the administration announced free tests for the people of Sharjah's Al Nahda from July 5 onwards. The ministry said that it would be conducting a 10-day testing camp with support of Sharjah police. The tests would be carried out at a mobile screening centre set up in Al Nahda Park from 10am to 6pm. The medical team would first focus on screening of 18 years olds and above. The residents would be intimated about the camp via SMS, and would be required to show their Emirates ID and the SMS alert they received at the test centre. The UAE is one of the leading nations in the world in terms of testing per million population. So far the Gulf nation has conducted 3.625 million tests. According to Worldometer - a site that provides real-time statistics - the UAE is among top four nations in the world which are conducting mass testing.

On Friday, the Emirates also announced an agreement between its Group 42, an artificial intelligence company and Israel’s public company Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which carries civilian as well as defence operations. The agreement was concluded over a video call with an aim to aid Covid 19 testing with artificial intelligence, sensors and lasers. IAI in a statement said, “COVID-19 does not distinguish between continents, peoples, and religions.” Yoav Turgeman, CEO of IAI subsidiary Elta, called it “the first step in what may become future joint work by the two countries”.

Israel’s another state-owned company, Rafael, would also be party to the agreement. Rafael, which is known for developing technologies to combat the pandemic, would lend its expertise to the rest in this united battle against Covid-19. Group 42 CEO Peng Xiao said his company was “privileged to follow the lead and share resources and expertise with Rafael and IAI for such a significant cause.”

WAM