UAE suspends entry of passengers from three more countries

The UAE will suspend entry of travellers on national and foreign carriers from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Namibia, starting 11.59pm on Monday, June 21.

The travel suspension includes inbound transit passengers with the exception of transit flights coming to the UAE and heading to these countries.

The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Emergency Management Authority (NCEMA) announced the decision on Saturday as a precautionary measure to stem the spread of Covid-19.

The GCAA said that passengers from these three African countries must have stayed at least 14 days outside of one of these three countries in order to be eligible to enter the UAE.

#NCEMA and Civil Aviation: Entry suspension for travelers from Liberia Sierra Leone and Namibia on national and foreign flights, also for transit passengers, with the exception of transit flights traveling to UAE & bound for these countries, starting June 21.#TogetherWeRecover pic.twitter.com/QrYahaAJQ2

— NCEMA UAE (@NCEMAUAE) June 19, 2021

UAE nationals, their first-degree relatives, diplomatic missions between the UAE and the three countries, official delegations, businessmen’s planes – after getting prior approvals – and golden and silver residency permit holders, in addition to the holders of essential jobs according to the classification of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA), as well as staffs of UAE embassies in the three countries are exempted from this travel suspension. However, they should undergo a mandatory 10-day quarantine upon arrival in the UAE and undertake a PCR test at the airport as well as another test on the fourth and eighth days of entering the country.

Also, the period of the required PCR test prior to their departure is reduced from 72 hours to 48 hours, and the test results must be issued by accredited laboratories and carry the QR code too.

Cargo flights between Liberia, Sierra Leone, Namibia and the UAE will remain unaffected by this decision.

Apart from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Namibia, three other African countries – Zambia, DR Congo, and Uganda, were added to the UAE’s travel suspension list earlier this month.

Read: UAE bans entry of passengers from Zambia, DR Congo and Uganda

However, travel restrictions from South Africa – along with Nigeria and India – to Dubai will be eased this week. Among various other requirements on passengers arriving from these countries issued on Thursday, those arriving from India and South Africa should have received two doses of a ‘UAE-approved vaccine’.

Read also: Dubai eases travel guidelines for passengers from India, South Africa and Nigeria