UAE Imposes Travel Restrictions on Travellers From India Amid Massive COVID Surge

The 10-day long travel restrictions, which might extend further, may be as a bad news for expats and travellers who choose middle-eastern destinations for flight transfers

Amid sudden surge in COVID cases and the detection of the double-mutated virus strain, UAE has joined the list of nations with travel restrictions applicable to travellers from India. The travel restrictions will come into effect from 11.59 pm on Saturday, April 24, and might be extended subject to how the pandemic condition develops here. This might be bad news for expats who planned to travel to middle-east or travellers who rely on these destinations for cheaper travel to other destinations. Arrival passengers for transit are not allowed unless they are staying in another safe destination for 14 days. Departure flights will continue to operate as usual. However, passengers excepted from this notification are UAE citizens, diplomatic passport holders and official delegations.

These travel restrictions might as well be an offshoot of the surging COVID cases in India, registering 3,14,835 COVID-19 cases in one day on Thursday, landing India on Red Lists of many global destinations. UAE has been successful in flattening the curve to a considerable extent and seems to be cautious about travellers from India disrupting the equation which now seems favourable for them. UAE Ban follows suit with similar restrictions from the part of Oman. India is now included in the "red list" of more than 30 countries, including Bangladesh and Pakistan. The red lists look like they will continue the same for until conditions get better in India, and are expected to remain the same for quite some time.