UAE reports 2,161 COVID-19 cases, 2,123 recoveries, 2 deaths

The new cases were detected through 282,345 additional tests.

The total number of cases in UAE as on June 24 are 620, 309, while total recoveries stand at 599,131. The death toll rises to 1,775.

Earlier today, Dubai carrier Emirates said it has extended the Nigeria flight suspension until at least July 6 to curb the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Taiwan said it will extend its level-3 Covid-19 alert by another two more weeks until July 12 in response to the continued risk posed by the local transmission of cases, health authorities announced.

Level-3 alert, the second-highest in Taiwan's four-tier Covid-19 alert scale.

Air India announced on Wednesday that India-UAE flights will be suspended until July 6.

In Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), double digit rise in new locally acquired cases of Covid-19 were reported for the third straight day as officials fight to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

“Since the pandemic has started, this is perhaps the scariest period that New South Wales is going through,” state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

What is Delta Plus variant?

The variant, called “Delta Plus” in India, was first reported in a Public Health England bulletin on June 11.

It is a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first detected in India and has acquired the spike protein mutation called K417N which is also found in the Beta variant first identified in South Africa.

Some scientists worry that the mutation, coupled with other existing features of the Delta variant, could make it more transmissible.

“The mutation K417N has been of interest as it is present in the Beta variant (B.1.351 lineage), which was reported to have immune evasion property,” India’s health ministry said in a statement.