Labourers wearing protective masks queue in Dubai. Reuters

The UAE health ministry confirmed 624 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing the total number of cases in the UAE to 17,417.

The ministry reported that 458 cases recovered from the virus.

The ministry said 11 people died due to virus in UAE.

Dr Amna Al Shamsi, UAE Government spokesperson, and Prof. Alawi Al Sheikh-Ali, UAE Advanced Sciences sector’s spokesperson, gave an update on Coronavirus measures and developments, at a news briefing.

Dr Al Shamsi said, “The currently infected cases of Covid-19 who are undergoing treatment is 12,937 cases. We wish all full and speedy recovery.

Dr. Al Shamsi also said, “We regret to announce that  11 people who tested positive for COVID-19 died due to complications. This brings the total death toll to 185."

“Our sincere condolences to the families of the deceased.”

Dr. Al Shamsi said, “The number of Coronavirus recovered cases has reached 4,295, a 25% of patients.

Prof Al Sheikh-Ali:  In January 2020, researchers in China published the first sequencing of the coronavirus from a patient from Wuhan. The sequenced strain is considered the original strain of the virus and this sequencing is considered the reference sequence of the virus.

Prof. Al Sheikh-Ali: This is an achievement for the UAE, in which our country is contributing to the global science community’s efforts in understanding COVID-19, through providing this information to an international research database for scientist and researchers.

Prof. Al Sheikh-Ali: 88% of the early cases did not have any symptoms or only had mild ones. The findings also indicate that there 70 mutations in the #UAE in the existing strains, 17 of which have not been identified internationally in the efforts of sequencing the virus.