KARACHI: Pakistani passengers have been barred from entering the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after undergoing the COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT).
The UAE authorities have also banned Pakistani passengers to travel to Dubai even after undergoing Covid rapid antigen test (RAT). The Pakistani travellers had been availing the Covid RAT facility for entering UAE while travelling via Air Arabia.
Following the travel restrictions of the Emirati authorities, the airlines including Emirates rejected to issue boarding passes to the passengers without conducting rapid Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests.
Hundreds of passengers from Pakistan have been offloaded from UAE flights due to the non-availability of rapid PCR tests.
The UAE imposed a complete ban on the entry of the passengers from Covid high-risk countries without rapid PCR test, whereas, the citizens of non-high-risk countries were allowed to enter the UAE with the Covid tests conducted 48 hours prior to the departure.
However, the citizens of non-high-risk countries will have to undergo PCR and rapid PCR tests while they will not be allowed to stay in UAE for not more than 14 days. An email had been sent to all airlines to follow the travel restrictions.
The non-availability of rapid PCR test facilities in Pakistan has left thousands of Dubai-bound passengers stranded at the country’s airports.
