The United Arab Emirates will bar entry for travellers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka starting from May 12 (Wednesday) as part of measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the country’s National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority said on its website on Monday.
“Flights between the four countries will continue to allow the transport of passengers from the UAE to Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka,” it said.
“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,” it added.
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“Exempted travelers, including UAE citizens, those on diplomatic missions accredited by the four countries, official delegations, those travelling on business planes, and golden residence holders, will be subject to precautionary measures that include a 10-day quarantine and PCR testing at the airport and on the fourth and eighth days after entering the country.”
The country also reduced the PCR testing period from 72 to 48 hours before travel.
The UAE announced last month a ban on entry from India to guard against the spread of the highly contagious Indian variant of the coronavirus.
#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
A growing number of countries have banned travel from India as the country is ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic with hundreds of thousands of cases being reported each day. These include the Philippines, Italy, United States, and Australia.
Australia also warned that people who tried to flout the travel ban could face jail and fines.
Other countries, including Canada, United Kingdom and Iran have banned travel from both India and Pakistan.
Over the last 24 hours, India reported 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths — off a little from recent peaks — taking India’s tally to 22.6 million with 246,116 deaths.
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Meanwhile, Pakistan reported 3,447 new cases and 78 deaths, taking the country’s tally of infections to 861,473 and the death toll to 18,993.
Reuters with additional input by GVS News Desk