Dr. Farida Al Hosani, Official Spokesperson of the UAE Health Sector, hailed the country's solid infrastructure and skilled human resources that are ensuring all possible efforts to mitigate the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. She further praised the awareness and robust commitment shown by the community members in successfully addressing the pandemic.

Dr. Farida Al Hosani made these remarks during a recent media briefing on the developments in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. She noted that the UAE's health sector continues to make efforts to achieve herd immunity by administering the vaccines to all eligible sections of society. She added that 74.5 percent of the UAE's population has received the first dose of the vaccine, while 64.3 percent have received both doses. With this development, the UAE has achieved a leading global rank in terms of its daily vaccine dose distribution at a rate of 158.24 doses for every 100 persons. Since the launch of its vaccination drive last year, the UAE administered nearly 15.5 million vaccine doses to all eligible community members.

Dr. Al Hosani underlined that since the pandemic outbreak, the UAE has been working with a proactive strategy aimed at protecting the health and safety of all community members. The UAE collaborated with relevant national authorities, designed appropriate plans and policies, implemented supportive measures for key sectors and enhanced the capacities of the health sector with advanced technology and innovation to support the fight against COVID-19.

She stated that the UAE has witnessed a significant decrease in the number of infections in recent days. This reflects the remarkable capacity of the country's health sector and relevant authorities in effectively containing the spread of the virus with early detection methods and proactive response.

"The UAE has crowned its significant efforts by establishing comprehensive and advanced national health systems to examine and treat COVID-19 cases, inaugurating specialist hospitals and equipping medical centres to treat patients according to the highest international standards," the senior official added.

She further noted that academic studies are continuously monitoring the efficiency and effectiveness of the vaccines against the disease as well as their impact on vaccinated people. In this regard, she stressed the importance of taking an additional vaccine dose for vaccinated people to limit the impact of the virus.

She urged all eligible community members to get vaccinated and take an additional booster dose, if required, after consulting their physicians. This will not only support the national vaccination efforts, but will also ensure the health and wellbeing of the community during the pandemic.

Dr. Al Hosani explained that community participation in line with a strong healthcare system is the best defence against pandemics and communicable diseases. She also underlined the importance of an aware community that complies with precautionary measures implemented by the health authorities for their welfare.

Dr. Al Hosani also praised the EDE technology for detecting COVID-19 infections as a safe, fast and innovative way to remotely trace any possible infection without the need for taking samples.

"Pilot stage results have shown the efficiency of this method, as over 20,000 people were subject to examinations with EDE scanners and the result was 93.5 percent in terms of the test’s sensitivity, underscoring its accuracy," she added.

In conclusion, Dr. Al Hosani called on all community members to cooperate with the national authorities and adhere to preventive measures, including wearing face masks, avoiding crowded areas and regular sanitisation. She also urged those planning to travel abroad during the summer holidays to check and comply with precautionary requirements issued by their destination countries.

WAM