The UAE has affirmed that it will continue to maintain its role as an “important travel and logistics hub” in line with the highest health and safety standards.
This stance was made on Friday after the United Kingdom’s decision to place travel restrictions on flights coming from the UAE.
Hind Al-Otaiba, director of the Strategic Communication Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said, “the cornerstone of fighting the pandemic is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and the UAE scored the highest per capita test rate in the world.”
She also said: “in light of the new changes taking place in the world, the UAE has intensified its efforts to mitigate these risks.”
Otaiba said the new measures include requiring incoming travelers to submit a negative PCR test, imposing restrictions on places of entertainment and gatherings, and implementing awareness campaigns continuously with high transparency.
“We are confident in our ambitious vaccination program, which ranks second in the world in the total number of vaccine doses distributed in relation to the number of individuals, and we have full confidence in the medical infrastructure and frontline workers.”
She also said that the UAE will extend visit visas, without any additional fees, for British travelers affected by this decision, in light of the current circumstances.
“From tomorrow (Friday 29 Jan at 1 pm), we’re extending our travel ban with the United Arab Emirates, Burundi, and Rwanda all added to the UK’s red list.
“This means people who have been in or transited through these countries will be denied entry, except British, Irish and third-country nationals with residence rights who must self-isolate for ten days at HOME,” the UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, tweeted.
The UAE on Friday recorded 3,962 new coronavirus cases and seven virus-related deaths.
Officials from the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said the total number of cases since the pandemic began had reached 297,041, while the death toll rose to 826.
It also said that 2,975 people had recovered from the virus over the past 24 hours. The total number of recoveries is 269,999.
