The UAE Ministry of Health has announced 477 new cases of Covid-19 in the country, adding there had been 93 people recovering from the diagnosis and two deaths.

The ministry said it had conducted more than 24,000 tests as part of plans to expand the scope of the detection campaign.

In total, there has been 6,302 cases, 1,095 recoveries and 35 deaths.

Dubai will continue with its 24-hour mandatory stay-home order for another week, the government said on Friday.

The system that requires residents to apply for a police permit to leave home for essential shopping will remain in effect

The process was brought in two weeks ago to tackle a rising number of Covid-19 cases.

On Thursday, police tightened the system to ensure residents could only leave home once every three days.

The World Health Organisation on Friday urged Middle East countries to "seize the opportunity" to combat the coronavirus while numbers of cases in the region are still relatively low.

In the region at large, which for the WHO stretches to Afghanistan, around 111,000 cases of the coronavirus have been recorded and more than 5,500 deaths.

SOURCE : NATIONAL AE