Abu Dhabi updates travel regulations for UAE citizens, residents and visitors

Above, a nurse instructs a driver about the procedure of the coronavirus COVID-19 testing at a drive thru verification center Abu Dhabi on April 2, 2020. (AFP)
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Updated 15 August 2021
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Abu Dhabi updates travel regulations for UAE citizens, residents and visitors

  • Vaccinated visitors from green list countries now allowed to forego quarantine

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi has updated travel regulations for UAE nationals, residents and visitors arriving at the emirate from abroad from today, August 15.

Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Committee’s new rules will now allow vaccinated visitors from green list countries to forego quarantine but must take a PCR upon arrival and also on the sixth day.

“When arriving from other destinations, they must take a PCR test on arrival, quarantine for seven days and take a PCR test on day 6,” the committee said.

“The protocol applies to fully vaccinated UAE citizens and residents as well as visitors as documented on Alhosn app,” it added.

Meanwhile, unvaccinated citizens, residents and visitors landing in Abu Dhabi from green list destinations must be tested for coronavirus on arrival without the need to quarantine, and again on the sixth and ninth day of their stay in the emirate.

When arriving from other destinations, they must take a PCR test on arrival, quarantine for 10 days and take another PCR test on day nine, the committee added.

Abu Dhabi also updated home quarantine protocols for individuals who had contact with COVID-19 patients: those who have been vaccinated must quarantine for seven days and take a PCR test on day six.

If the PCR test result is negative, they can remove the wristband and end quarantine on day seven, the new protocols state.

Unvaccinated individuals meanwhile must quarantine for 10 days and take a PCR test on day nine. If the PCR test result is negative, they can remove the wristband and end quarantine on day 10.

UAE health officials on Saturday reported 1,206 new coronavirus cases and three more deaths, bringing the total number of recorded cases in the country to 700,587 including 1,997 fatalities.

The Gulf state has one of the world’s most aggressive inoculation program, with a vaccine distribution rate of 175.56 doses per 100 people or equivalent to 17,363,341 doses thus far.


Brother of Israel’s Shin Bet chief indicted in Gaza smuggling case

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Brother of Israel’s Shin Bet chief indicted in Gaza smuggling case

JERUSALEM: Prosecutors on Thursday filed charges against the brother of the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency over the alleged smuggling of cigarettes into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Bezalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, is charged along with other defendants in the case with “assisting the enemy in wartime, performing transactions in property for terrorist purposes, obtaining something by fraud under aggravated circumstances, and taking bribes,” the justice ministry said.
“A central category of prohibited goods smuggled into the Strip was tobacco and cigarettes, which have put a total of hundreds of millions of shekels into Hamas’s coffers since the start of the war,” the ministry added in a statement.
Israel controls the entry of all goods and people into the Palestinian territory, where humanitarian conditions remain dire despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which came into effect on October 10.
The justice ministry described the smuggling operation as a “serious case of organized, systematic, and sophisticated smuggling of various goods into the Gaza Strip for profit,” which began in the summer of 2025, when war was still raging in Gaza.