The UAE's leaders encouraged people to get vaccinated as soon as possible to allow life to return to normal.
On Tuesday, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said important steps to control the outbreak have been taken but that vaccination was the way forward.
“Today, we are second in the world in the race for vaccination. The efforts of all those involved are appreciated and valued,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
“My message to everyone is to hasten to be vaccinated to protect our health, our economy and our achievements.”
He said widespread vaccination would “accelerate the full recovery of our country”.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, thanked frontline workers for their "tremendous efforts" to protect the country's population.
He said that 1,275,000 vaccine doses were given to Emiratis and residents since the start of the campaign last month.
“We hope that with vaccinations picking up pace we will reach the point of full recovery in the shortest possible time,” Sheikh Mohamed said.
The UAE has authorised the use of the Sinopharm vaccine.
In Dubai, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is also available for use by over-sixties, frontline workers and people with underlying health conditions that place them at greater risk of serious illness.
Inoculations for the rest of the population are expected to begin in the coming months.
There are no charges for the vaccines and taking them is voluntary.
On Tuesday, health authorities echoed the leadership’s message, after the sharp rise in cases recorded in recent weeks.
During the country's regular briefing, Dr Farida Al Hosani, spokeswoman for the UAE's health sector, said the new, more contagious strain of the virus, which led to a surge in cases worldwide, had also been detected in the UAE.
“This was expected, but what is most important now is that we continue our efforts to protect ourselves against the virus,” she said.
She said researchers were working to learn more about the strain and how to best tackle it while health authorities monitored cases.
Above all, she said, vaccines are “one of the most important solutions we have available to prevent the spread of the virus and its severity”.
Vaccination drive in Abu Dhabi - in pictures
COMPANY PROFILE
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German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe.
"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.
Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.
"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
AT%20A%20GLANCE
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The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
The view from The National
Our legal consultants
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Rating: Four stars
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