Dubai:
The United Arab Emirates announced it will resume issuing visas to all vacationers completely vaccinated against Covid from Monday, a month just before Dubai hosts the delayed Expo 2020 trade fair.
The move comes amid a drop in coronavirus infections in the oil-wealthy Gulf nation, right after it reported much less than 1,000 situations per day last week for the very first time in months.
The UAE’s selection to reopen its doors to vacationers from all nations was taken in order “to achieve sustainable recovery and economic growth”, the official WAM news agency reported on Saturday.
Those eligible would have to be completely inoculated with one of the Covid-19 vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization, which consist of AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Sinopharm and Sinovac.
“The decision applies to citizens of all countries, including those arriving from previously banned countries,” WAM mentioned.
“Passengers arriving on tourist visas must take a mandatory PCR test at the airport,” it added.
The UAE is made up of seven emirates like the capital Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
While life in the nation has largely returned to standard amid the Covid pandemic, it continues to enforce strict guidelines on wearing masks and social distancing.
Dubai was last year counting on the six-month Dubai Expo 2020 — delayed a year by the overall health crisis and now set to open in October — to attract millions of guests and increase the economy.
Heavily reliant on tourism, the emirate was one of the very first destinations to open its doors to travellers, accepting vacationers in July last year, just a handful of months right after the pandemic took hold.
Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, has been more cautious, opening up to some guests only in December.
The UAE as so far recorded more than 715,000 situations of Covid-19 infection, like 2,036 deaths.
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