UAE announces 85 new coronavirus cases, seven more recoveries

The UAE announced on Wednesday the detection of 85 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and the recovery of seven more individuals.

The announcement was made by the Ministry of Health and Prevention during a regular press briefing on Wednesday, wherein Dr. Farida Al Hosani, the official spokesperson for the UAE health sector, highlighted the latest COVID-19 developments in the country and the measures taken by Emirati authorities to combat the spread of the pandemic.

Al Hosani, who is also the Director of the Department of Communicable Diseases at the Abu Dhabi Centre for Public Health, said that the new cases are from various nationalities, including one each from Djibouti, Canada, Hungary, Russia, Belgium, Mauritius, Tunisia, Serbia, Venezuela, Sweden, Brazil, Romania, and Oman; two each from Palestine, Indonesia, Colombia, Japan, Germany, Egypt, Morocco and Spain; three each from the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa, Philippines, France, India, the US, and China; four each from Saudi Arabia and Italy; five each from Iran and Pakistan, and seven each from the UAE and Britain, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 333.

She also announced the recovery of seven cases among individuals--five Bangladeshi and two Pakistani nationals--who have all been discharged from the hospital after making a full recovery, taking the total number of recoveries in the UAE to 52 so far.

Al Hosani stressed the importance of all UAE citizens and residents staying home unless absolutely necessary and adhering to all the precautionary measures advised by the relevant authorities.

"The detection of one infected case compels the authorities to conduct a necessary investigation among all those in contact with this one case in order to identify the source of the infection and its aftermath. In this we usually detect additional cases. It usually starts with a person coming from abroad who then transmits the virus to others around him or her," she explained.

"The recent precautionary measures announced are aimed at protecting society, with the law to be applied only to violators of the UAE law on communicable diseases, under which violators are subject to jail terms and fines," she warned.

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