Abu Dhabi has extended its green list of countries and destinations from which travellers can enter the emirate without needing to quarantine on arrival.
In the first update since early October, the green list has been extended and now covers 95 destinations. There are 13 new countries included such as Lebanon, Turkey and the Philippines.
In September, Abu Dhabi removed the requirement to quarantine on arrival for vaccinated travellers from all international destinations.
Travellers who have received a full dose of a Covid-19 vaccine do not need to isolate when flying into the UAE. Unvaccinated travellers flying to Abu Dhabi only need to isolate if they're coming from countries not on the green list.
Scroll through our gallery above to see the new countries added.
Unvaccinated visitors from non-green list countries must take a PCR test on arrival, quarantine for 10 days and take further PCR tests on day six and day nine.
No destinations were removed from the list in the most recent update. The new countries added are: Algeria, Cambodia, Iran, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines, Romania, Syria, Turkey, Uruguay and Yemen. Previously, the list ran to 82 destinations.
95 quarantine-free countries on updated Green List
1. Albania
2. Algeria
3. Armenia
4. Australia
5. Austria
6. Azerbaijan
7. Bahrain
8. Belarus
9. Belgium
10. Belize
11. Bhutan
12. Bolivia
13. Bosnia and Herzegovina
14. Brazil
15. Brunei
16. Bulgaria
17. Burma
18. Burundi
19. Cambodia
20. Canada
21. Chile
22. China
23. Colombia
24. Comoros
25. Croatia
26. Cyprus
27. Czech Republic
28. Denmark
29. Ecuador
30. Estonia
31. Finland
32. France
33. Georgia
34. Germany
35. Greece
36. Hong Kong
37. Hungary
38. Iceland
39. Indonesia
40. Iran
41. Israel
42. Italy
43. Japan
44. Jordan
45. Kazakhstan
46. Kuwait
47. Kyrgyzstan
48. Laos
49. Latvia
50. Lebanon
51. Liechtenstein
52. Luxembourg
53. Malaysia
54. Maldives
55. Malta
56. Mauritius
57. Moldova
58. Monaco
59. Montenegro
60. Morocco
61. Netherlands
62. New Zealand
63. Norway
64. Oman
65. Philippines
66. Poland
67. Portugal
68. Qatar
69. Republic of Ireland
70. Romania
71. Russia
72. San Marino
73. Saudi Arabia
74. Serbia
75. Seychelles
76. Singapore
77. Slovakia
78. Slovenia
79. South Korea
80. Spain
81. Sweden
82. Switzerland
83. Syria
84. Taiwan, Province of China
85. Tajikistan
86. Thailand
87. Tunisia
88. Turkey
89. Turkmenistan
90. Ukraine
91. United Kingdom
92. United States of America
93. Uruguay
94. Uzbekistan
95. Yemen
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Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
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Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
RACE CARD
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (Turf) 2,200m
5.30pm: Khor Al Baghal – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Khor Faridah – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
7pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
7.30pm: Khor Laffam – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
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Favourite Emirati dish: I have so many because it has a lot of herbs and vegetables. Harees (oats with chicken) is one of them
Favourite place to go to: Dubai Mall because it has lots of sports shops.
Her motivation: My performance because I know that whatever I do, if I put the effort in, I’ll get results
During her free time: I like to drink coffee - a latte no sugar and no flavours. I do not like cold drinks
Pet peeve: That with every meal they give you a fries and Pepsi. That is so unhealthy
Advice to anyone who wants to be an ironman: Go for the goal. If you are consistent, you will get there. With the first one, it might not be what they want but they should start and just do it
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Thursday’s fixtures
6pm: Hyderabad Nawabs v Pakhtoon Warriors
10pm: Lahore Sikandars v Pakhtoon Blasters
Teams
Chennai Knights, Lahore Sikandars, Pakhtoon Blasters, Abu Dhabi Stars, Abu Dhabi Dragons, Pakhtoon Warriors and Hyderabad Nawabs.
Squad rules
All teams consist of 15-player squads that include those contracted in the diamond (3), platinum (2) and gold (2) categories, plus eight free to sign team members.
Tournament rules
The matches are of 25 over-a-side with an 8-over power play in which only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Teams play in a single round robin league followed by the semi-finals and final. The league toppers will feature in the semi-final eliminator.
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
