The UAE aims to open seven field hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients, authorities said on Tuesday.

Farida Al Hosani, spokeswoman for the UAE health sector, said “a number” of field hospitals had already been opened with a total of seven planned to increase hospital capacity.

Al Hosani attributed the drop in daily case numbers over the past two weeks to the safety precautions put in place across the country and their enforcement.

“These are good indicators that show an improvement in the UAE’s fight against Covid-19. We hope cases will continue to go down.”

She said the nationwide vaccination drive also contributed to a curb in cases with almost 5.7 million doses administered to date, which is the equivalent to 57.31 doses per 100 people. Of these, 3.48 million have been administered to residents, which is 44.89 per cent of the target. At least 57 per cent of the country’s population over 60 years old has received a dose of the vaccine.

The aim, she said, was to reach herd immunity to protect people who are not naturally immune or who are unable to take the vaccine.

“Herd immunity is considered one of the stages of indirect protection from communicable diseases and requires a large amount of the community to be immunized.

“Once we achieve herd immunity … we will have begun to curb the spread of the virus.”

She assured the public that the vaccines available in the country were completely safe for use for everyone – including the elderly and people with chronic illnesses.

“We call on all to get vaccinated because it is the safest way to recovery,” she said.