The United Arab Emirates’ health authorities on Monday announced that the country has approved the use of a coronavirus vaccine for emergency purposes, according to a Livemint report.
The vaccine is currently in its third phase of testing in the Gulf country. The trials are being conducted by Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence company G42 in collaboration with the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm.
Third phase
For the third phase, 31000 volunteers took the vaccine shot.
National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority of UAE on Twitter said: “The vaccine will be available to our first line of defence heroes who are at the highest risk of contracting the virus.”
Earlier in July, G42 noted that the Chinese company selected UAE for the trials as the country is home to over 200 nationalities.
The decision came as last Saturday’s infection rate in UAE breached the 1,000-mark for the first time.
Meanwhile, the UAE, which has the overall population of nine million, has recorded 80,940 cases of the novel coronavirus so far, out of which over 70,000 people have already recovered from the virus. While 401 people died due to coronavirus in the country, as per the worldometer report.