The United Arab Emirates reported 1,388 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, July 21, after 287,895 PCR tests were conducted.
The recent cases take the total number of COVID-19 infections to 978,966 since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
The total recoveries in the UAE rose to 958,728 after 1,282 more recovered from the virus.
One death related to COVID was recorded in the last 24 hours, taking the number to 2,329.
Over 174 million PCR tests have been held since the first case of COVID-19 in the UAE was found on January 29, 2020. Daily infection rates have gradually decreased in July, having topped 1,800 during the beginning of the month.
The surge of cases in June overlapped with the spread of the Omicron subvariants that were BA.4 and BA.5, responsible for the rising of cases in Europe and the US.
In recent weeks, virologists have shown concerns regarding the Centaurus coronavirus sub-variant, which is said to be spreading rapidly in Europe and India and could be more contagious than other strains of Covid and better at surpassing immunity afforded by earlier infections and vaccines.
It is estimated that 3.5 million people in the United Kingdom have Covid-19 Centaurus or BA.2.75, a sub-variant of the Omicron strain found in India during early May. It has reached 14 nations, including Japan, Australia, Canada, the UK, US, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
However, it is now yet known whether it is more contagious or linked with severe coronavirus disease. The WHO has designated BA.2.75 as a sub-variant which is “under monitoring”.
Experts in the Netherlands stated the variant could be more transmissible than earlier forms of the virus, as it persists in mutating to evade immunity which has developed in populations since Covid first came out in 2020.
The Omicron has had five sub-variants that are closely being monitored.