Abu Dhabi tightens entry requirements amid surge in Covid-19 cases in UAE

The emergency, crisis and disasters committee of Abu Dhabi has tightened entry requirements amid a major spike in cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), news agency Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

The committee said that from December 30, vaccinated individuals will need a green status on the Alhosn App on their phones, while the unvaccinated will need a negative RT-PCR test result received within 96 hours to enter Abu Dhabi, which is the capital of the UAE.

The restrictions in entry requirements have been imposed because of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19.

They come two days after Abu Dhabi on Monday tightened rules for hosting indoor and outdoor social events as well as family celebrations.

Till now, the UAE has reported nearly 755,000 cases, 2,160 fatalities and 742,565 recoveries due to Covid-19. The active cases stand at 10,186.

The daily cases have been surging in the Middle Eastern country since last Sunday. On Tuesday, 1,846 more people were detected as Covid-19 positive while one patient died and 632 recovered from the viral disease.

At the start of this month, daily cases were below the 50-mark.

The UAE so far managed to avoid Covid-19 restrictions unlike other countries in the world.

According to Bloomberg, the country has started administering booster doses to its population but has only covered a little over 30%. This booster administration is low despite the UAE having a high vaccination rate globally.

Meanwhile, another country in the Middle East, Oman, has made two doses of vaccination mandatory for entering public places, offices. According to a report by Onmanorama, this mandate also applies to foreigners above 18 years that are entering Oman.