The UAE reported a record high of 3,966 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, raising the total to 293,052.
At least 3,294 patients were cleared of the virus, taking total recoveries to 267,024 and ending an eight-day streak of recoveries exceeding new infections.
Eight people died of related complications, increasing the death toll to 819.
The number of people across the country with a positive Covid-19 diagnoseis is 25,209 – an increase of about 700 cases since Wednesday.
Cases have been steadily rising since November, with a surge reported in January after the winter holidays.
Average daily cases in the first week of January were 1,986 but, over the past seven days, average daily infections rose to 3,685.
At least 91 per cent of all cases reported in the country have ended in recovery while less than 0.3 per cent ended in death.
Thursday's infections were reported after an additional 168,781 screenings. The UAE has conducted more than 25.1 million PCR and DPI tests since the outbreak, making it among the top nations for testing per capita.
A nationwide vaccination campaign is under way with the aim of vaccinating 50 per cent of the population by the end of March.
Vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm are being administered while Russia's Sputnik V is approved for emergency use.
On Thursday, authorities said 104,200 more vaccine doses were administered over the previous 24 hours - the highest in a single day yet. A total of 2.87m doses have been administered since the vaccine drive began last month. This is the equivalent of 29 per 100 people.
The use of vaccines brings hope the pandemic could be ending. However, health authorities said people will probably need an annual Covid-19 vaccine to boost their immunity.
Although the virus does not mutate as quickly as the common flu, the emergence of variants that can evade antibodies suggests repeated vaccination may be required to fight different strains, experts said.
“The more mutant the virus, the more is the possible need to vaccinate annually against it,” said Dr Farida Al Hosani, spokeswoman for the UAE’s government health authorities. It is envisaged that the Covid vaccine could become as common as the annual flu shot.
