DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will bar entry for travelers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka starting Wednesday, as part of measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Flights between the four countries will continue to allow the transport of passengers from the UAE to Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka,” the country’s National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA) said on its website on Monday.
#NCEMA and Civil Aviation: Suspension of entry for travelers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka on national and foreign flights, also for transit passengers, with the exception of transit flights traveling to UAE and bound for these countries.https://t.co/Dhjg6dhPrp pic.twitter.com/bkPgdWexmM
— NCEMA UAE (@NCEMAUAE) May 10, 2021
The only exceptions are UAE nationals, diplomatic missions, official delegations, Golden Visa holders, and corporate jets.
Exempted passengers will need to undergo an RT-PCR test no more than 48 hours before the flight. They are also required to undergo a PCR test upon arrival in the UAE.
The travellers must also undergo a 10-day quarantine in the Emirates, with RT-PCR tests on days four and eight of entry.
“This decision also includes extending the suspension of entry for travellers who were in these four countries in the 14-day period prior to arrival in the UAE,” the NCEMA said.
The ban includes transit flights coming from those countries. Transit flights to those countries can continue.
The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Monday reported 1,507 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 1,476 recoveries and 2 deaths.
Last month, the UAE announced a ban on entry from India to guard against the spread of the highly contagious Indian variant of the coronavirus. In doing so, the sheikhdom joined other countries — including Italy, Australia, the United States and Nigeria — to avert the spread of a Covid-19 variant as the Asian nation struggles with a surge in infections.
India, which is facing a health crisis, is battling a “double mutant” strain of Covid-19. On Monday, the country posted 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths, off a little from recent peaks, taking its tally to 22.66 million with 246,116 deaths.
Experts have said India’s actual figures could be far higher than reported.
Sunday’s 1.47 million tests for Covid-19 were this month’s lowest yet, data from the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) showed. The figure compared with a daily average of 1.7 million for the first eight days of May.
