The official spokesman for UAE government, Dr. Omar Al Hammadi announced at a media briefing the latest development regarding Covid-19 in the country. He publicized the official figures of daily tests to be 58,953. He further stated that there are 179 new cases of Covid-19 which brings total registered cases in UAE to 62,704. Dr. Hammadi further announced that there have been 198 recoveries, thus bringing total registered recoveries in UAE to 56,766. Also, with no new reported fatalities, there are 5,581 patients in process of receiving treatment for coronavirus infection.

He explained that UAE is leading the world in its research work on development of Covid-19 vaccine and that the country is a pioneer in addressing the requirement of production of safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus infection. He also stressed on the fact that UAE is contributing to reducing the costs of vaccine to ensure appropriate healthcare facilities to all patients. Al Hammadi said that the procedure involves injecting of an inactive or weak microbial material into body so as to stimulate the immune mechanism to kickstart production of antibodies against the infection, even for future.

Al Hammadi noted that while some vaccines can provide lifelong immunity, like measles vaccine, some vaccines provide immunity that lasts for one year, like influenza vaccine. The reason for this is constant evolution of virus and its infecting mechanism. This requires constant renewing of vaccine and injecting it accordingly. He also said that prime objective of vaccine is to eradicate the disease. For example, vaccinations have led to complete eradication of smallpox disease and that world is very close to eliminate polio too.

He further said that scientific developments and progress has led to production of vaccines for chronic diseases also, like Hepatitis C. Moreover, vaccines can now offer protection from cirrhosis, HPV and cancer.

Al Hammadi also mentioned three benefits of vaccines in relation to infectious diseases – protection from the infection, preventing onset of disease symptoms, and preventing infection transmission between infected and uninfected people.

The spokesman to UAE government also answered various questions as part of the briefing. He revealed in his responses that 30% increase in cases in past few days is due to rise in social gatherings and not due to lapse in preventive measures. He also said that monitoring is being done by authorities regarding cases across various nationalities in the country.

Al Hammadi clarified that it is a false belief that rise in cases is due to reopening of markets, commercial centres and restaurants. He said that real reason was gatherings at home, as public places are being strictly monitored by authorities. He stressed that public places are being maintained with preventive and precautionary measures, social distancing and sanitization.

In relation to the reliability factor of laser blood testing for diagnosis of Covid-19, Al Hammadi said that this test helps identify rapid changes in blood within no time. He said that these changes can be indicative of infection, but not definitely. He stresses that PCR or polymerase chain reaction is the most accurate test for identifying Covid-19 case.

He explained that human immune system develops a defensive reaction after becoming infected with a virus. This reaction causes change in blood which takes3-10 days. The first type of such reaction produces IgM. It is quick but of temporary presence in blood. He said further that immune system evolves the reaction post infection over 1-2 weeks and produces IgM, a long term immunity entity. Its presence in body indicates an old infection. At this time the body might not be symptomatic. This depicts that body has immunity to the virus – which can be either because of a previous infection or because the individual is taking vaccine.

Al Hammadi further explained that this process indicates that a person can carry virus for many days before his body develops any immunity. This can take from one to three weeks post infection contraction.

WAM