Pakistani passengers barred from entering UAE after Covid RAT

KARACHI: Pakistani passengers have been barred from entering the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after undergoing the COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT), ARY News reported on Sunday.

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.

READ: UAE TO EASE FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS FROM SIX COUNTRIES INCLUDING PAKISTAN

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.

READ: FOREIGN AIRLINE DENIES 70 KARACHI PEOPLE ENTRY INTO DUBAI-BOUND FLIGHT

Taking note of the situation at the local airports, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking it to take up the matter with the UAE authorities on a priority basis and urged them to revisit their policy on inbound passengers from Pakistan.

The UAE authorities had issued earlier this week a Covid-19 advisory for air travel to and transit via Dubai for passengers from certain countries, including Pakistan.

For transit passengers, the UAE made a negative PCR test result conducted within the 72 hours prior to travelling to Dubai mandatory with a maximum transit time of eight hours.