Dubai puts more curbs on travel, hospitals as virus cases climb

Dubai imposed further restrictions on air travel and hospitals as coronavirus cases continue to climb in the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai imposed further restrictions on air travel and hospitals as coronavirus cases continue to climb in the United Arab Emirates.

The Middle East business hub reduced the validity of PCR test to three days from four “irrespective of the country they are coming from,” according to a statement. It also made it mandatory to have prior appointments for hospital visits.

Travel requirements effective on January 31.

Validity period of PCR tests cut to 72 hours from 96 hours.

Pre-travel PCR test mandatory for UAE residents, GCC citizens and visitors arriving in Dubai.

Arrivals from certain countries -- based on the pandemic situation in those countries -- require an additional test on arrival in Dubai.

Hospital requirements effective January on 27.

All appointments must be booked in advance and there should be a minimum interval of 20 minutes between appointments.

A minimum distance of two meters should be maintained by patients in waiting areas.

The UAE, of which Dubai is the second-largest emirate, is battling a rise in infections as it opened up for air travel and eased movement restrictions. On Wednesday, the country reported record daily cases of 3,939.

The UAE has already approved shots developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, as well as China’s Sinopharm and Russia’s Sputnik V.

So far, almost 2.76 million doses have been administered and the UAE has the second-highest per-capita inoculation rate in the world after Israel. The government aims to cover 50% of its population of about 10 million by April.

Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.