With cases dropping, Dubai eases travel restrictions for Indians, others

With COVID cases dropping, Dubai has eased travel restrictions for residents and travellers from certain countries, including India, from June 23. Dubai’s Emirates airline is expected to resume flights connecting India, South Africa and Nigeria to Dubai from the same day.

Residents and workers are allowed to return if they have taken two doses of a UAE-approved COVID vaccine, as per a report in The Gulf News. Four vaccines are approved by the UAE government — Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sputnik V and Oxford-AstraZeneca.

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The Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management in Dubai, headed by Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced new travel protocols for inbound passengers from South Africa, Nigeria and India, effective from June 23.

On travel from India, only passengers with a valid residence visa who have received two doses of a UAE-approved vaccine, are allowed to travel to Dubai. However, from South Africa and Nigeria, non-residence passengers are also allowed to travel subject to the vaccination and PCR test conditions. A negative test certificate from a PCR test taken 48 hours before departure is required, the report said. The UAE nationals are exempted from this requirement. Only QR-coded negative PCR test certificates are accepted, it said.

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Further, passengers from India are required to undergo a rapid PCR test four hours prior to departure to Dubai. They must also undergo another PCR test on arrival in Dubai. In addition, following arrival, passengers from India should undergo institutional quarantine until they receive their PCR test result, which is expected within 24 hours, the report added.

In late April, the UAE closed its borders for travellers from India due to a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country during the second wave of the pandemic.