UAE confirms 3,310 new COVID-19 cases, 7 additional deaths

The UAE has ramped up its immunization campaign with the aim of vaccinating more than 50 percent of its roughly 9 million population before the end of March. (File/WAM)
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Updated 03 February 2021
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UAE confirms 3,310 new COVID-19 cases, 7 additional deaths

  • UAE says 3,791 have recovered over the past 24 hours
  • Kuwait records 811 cases and 1 death, Bahrain reports 657 cases

DUBAI: The UAE on Tuesday recorded seven deaths related to COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, and 3,310 new confirmed cases of the disease. The number of infections once against topped the 3,000 mark after dipping below it for two days.
The total number of cases in the country since the pandemic began has reached 309,649 and the death toll stands at 866. A total of 285,201 people have recovered from the virus, including 3,791 in the past 24 hours.
The health ministry said 106,615 people were vaccinated in the preceding 24 hours and that the total number of doses administered has reached 3.448 million.
Saif Al-Dhaheri, a spokesman for the National Crisis and Emergency Management Authority, said the UAE is moving steadily and confidently toward containing the pandemic and planning the recovery phase. He highlighted the success of the national inoculation campaign and said that “taking the vaccine has become an ethical duty for everyone, both citizens and residents, to help protect the health and safety of the community.”
He revealed that the inoculation rate has reached 36.04 per 100 people and added that despite the recent rise in new cases, the “UAE has the ability to deal with this increase through a flexible and efficient approach to handling developments.”
The Emirates “has the best services that any visitor or tourist can enjoy, and has succeeded in providing a safe touristic experience for its visitors of various nationalities,” Al-Dhaheri said.
Helal Al-Marri, director-general of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, said the emirate “is taking steps based on the data on the ground, and we have a very clear plan in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, and we do not take decisions based on external media reports.”
Dubai has been criticized by some countries, particularly the UK, for its increased tourism activity over the New Year holiday, which has been blamed for an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.
Al-Marri said Dubai has the health care capabilities needed to deal with a variety of scenarios, and that hospital beds, medical equipment and medicines are all available to treat coronavirus patients.
“The Dubai government is closely following the developments of the pandemic, and each sector is considered separately to know where we should tighten measures and where we can ease some of the restrictions,” he said during an interview with CNN.
Abu Dhabi’s Hope Consortium is partnering with some of the world’s leading logistics companies to oversee the safe distribution of billions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine around the world.
The company said it will provide its “expertise, infrastructure and capabilities to meet the complex requirements of storing, transporting and demand-planning for the billions of vaccine doses, under cold and ultra-cold conditions, that are being produced globally.”
Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi Media Office said a 100km community cycling event will go ahead as planned on Wednesday “amid stringent precautionary measures.”

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Kuwait reported 811 new cases of COVID-19, raising the total in the country to 166,654, while the death toll rose to 960 after one more patient died from the disease.

Oman’s health ministry confirmed 161 new cases and no additional deaths related to the disease, bringing the national totals to 134,685 and 1,532, respectively.

In Bahrain the death toll stands at 376, with no deaths reported in the previous 24 hours. An additional 657 were confirmed in the country.

 


Slain son of former Libya ruler Qaddafi to be buried near capital

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Slain son of former Libya ruler Qaddafi to be buried near capital

TRIPOLI: The slain son of former Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi will be buried in a town south of the capital that remains loyal to the family, relatives said Thursday.
Seif Al-Islam Qaddafi, once seen by some as Libya’s heir apparent, was shot dead on Tuesday in the northwestern city of Zintan.
The burial will be held on Friday in the town of Bani Walid some 175 kilometers south of Tripoli, two of his brothers said.
“The date and location of his burial have been decided by mutual agreement among the family,” half-brother Mohamed Qaddafi said in a Facebook post.
Mohamed said the plan reflected “our respect” for the town, which has remained loyal to the elder Qaddafi years after he was toppled and killed in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.
Each year, the town of about 100,000 celebrates the anniversary of a 1969 coup that brought Muammar to power, parading through the streets holding the ex-leader’s portrait.
Saadi Qaddafi, a younger brother, said his dead sibling will be “buried among the Werfalla,” an influential local tribe, in a grave next to his brother Khamis Qaddafi, who died during the 2011 unrest.
Marcel Ceccaldi, a French lawyer who had been representing Seif Al-Islam, told AFP he was killed by an unidentified “four-man commando” who stormed his house on Tuesday.
Seif Al-Islam had long been widely seen as his father’s heir. Under the elder Qaddafi’s iron-fisted 40-year rule, he was described as the de facto prime minister, cultivating an image of moderation and reform despite holding no official position.
But that reputation soon collapsed when he promised “rivers of blood” in retaliation for the 2011 uprising.
He was arrested that year on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, and a Tripoli court later sentenced him to death, although he was later granted amnesty.
In 2021 he announced he would run for president but the elections were indefinitely postponed.
He is survived by four out of six siblings: Mohamed, Saadi, Aicha and Hannibal, who was recently released from a Lebanese prison on bail.
Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted after the 2011 uprising. It remains split between a UN-backed government based in Tripoli and an eastern administration backed by Khalifa Haftar.