In light of the current COVID situation, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has banned its citizens from travelling to 14 countries including Sri Lanka. 

Other countries that have been banned by the UAE are Pakistan, Nepal, India, South Africa, Bangladesh, Namibia, Zambia, Vietnam, Congo, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Uganda. The travel ban will remain in place until July 21.

The Foreign Ministry and the National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Authority in the UAE mentioned that during the travel season, citizens need to be very cautious and take all the precautionary measures related to COVID-19.

Emirates Airline of Dubai took to Twitter and said, “We’re waiting for the exact travel protocols and guidelines before we can resume.” Previously, Emirates stated that flights from India were available from July 7, but things might change now.

A notice was issued to Airmen (NOTAM), UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority, which mentioned that flights from 14 countries will remain suspended until 23:59 hours of July 21, 2021, due to the pandemic.

On June 19, Dubai had said that it has banned entry of people who in the past 14 days have visited India, Nigeria and South Africa. It also mentioned that entry would only be allowed to fully vaccinated UAE residents in India.

-Agencies