DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates will lift a ban on transit passenger traffic from India, Pakistan, Nigeria and other countries from Aug. 5, the National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority (NCEMA) said on Tuesday.
The UAE, a major international travel hub, has banned passengers from many South Asian and African countries for several months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
NCEMA said on Twitter that passengers traveling from countries where flights had been suspended would be able to transit through its airports from Thursday as long as they present negative PCR tests taken 72 hours prior to departure.
Final destination approval would also have to be provided, the authority said, adding that UAE departure airports would arrange separate lounges for transiting passengers.
The transit ban had also included Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Uganda.
NCEMA said that a ban on entry to the UAE for passengers from these countries would also be lifted for those with valid residencies and who are certified by Emirati authorities as fully vaccinated.
However, they would need to apply for online entry permits prior to traveling and would need to present a negative PCR test taken 48 hours prior to departure.
Those working in the medical, educational or government sectors in the Gulf Arab state as well as those studying or completing medical treatment in the UAE would be exempt from the vaccination requirement as would humanitarian cases.
UAE lifts ban on transit flights from India, Pakistan, other countries
https://arab.news/6sr29
UAE lifts ban on transit flights from India, Pakistan, other countries
- Transit passengers traveling from countries where flights had been suspended must present negative PCR tests taken 72 hours prior to departure
RSF drones hit civilian sites in Sudan’s North Kordofan
- According to the sources, the strike targeted classrooms at Kordofan University for the second time this week
CAIRO: The Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces carried out a drone attack on multiple civilian sites in Al-Ubayyid, the capital of North Kordofan state, in the early hours of Friday, field sources have told Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath.
According to the sources, the strike targeted classrooms at Kordofan University for the second time this week.
The city’s medical supply center and a private home in the Riyadh Al-Salihin neighborhood were also hit.
No civilian casualties were reported, the sources said, though the buildings sustained material damage.
A military source told the two outlets that army ground-based defenses intercepted and shot down about 11 drones involved in the attack on Al-Ubayyid.
The use of drones has escalated in recent months, with both the Sudanese army and the RSF increasingly relying on unmanned aerial systems in their operations.
The RSF has been accused of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Kordofan.
Meanwhile, the army has continued to track and strike RSF supply lines in Kordofan and Darfur.
More than 100,000 people have been displaced from the Kordofan region in just over three months, according to the UN, as violence between the army and RSF intensifies with the conflict nearing its third year.
