Vaccinated travellers flying into Abu Dhabi from countries not on its "green list" will now quarantine for five days instead of 10, the emirate's authorities announced on Sunday.
Arrivals from green list countries already do not need to quarantine, under Abu Dhabi's coronavirus regulations.
Officials set out a series of scenarios depending on a traveller's country of origin and Covid-19 vaccine status.
These include a PCR test on arrival and subsequent tests.
Abu Dhabi authorities stated the following:
- Vaccinated travellers arriving from green countries must take a PCR test on arrival and on Day 6, without the need to quarantine. Vaccinated travellers arriving from other countries must take a PCR test on arrival, quarantine for 5 days and take another PCR test on Day 4.
- The protocol applies to all vaccinated UAE citizens and residents of Abu Dhabi emirate who received their second vaccine dose at least 28 days earlier, which is documented in the vaccine report on Alhosn app.
- Non-vaccinated citizens and residents of Abu Dhabi arriving from green countries must take a PCR test on arrival without the need to quarantine, followed by PCR tests on Day 6 and Day 12.
- Non-vaccinated citizens and residents arriving from other countries must take a PCR test on arrival, quarantine for 10 days and take another PCR test on Day 8.
On patrol with Abu Dhabi's door-to-door testing team
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A team of medics, volunteers and police officers in central Abu Dhabi during a nighttime testing drive. Farha Sameer Baker, right, is head of operations at Tamouh Health Care. All photos by Victor Besa / The National -
Abu Dhabi's government has run door-to-door testing since May 2020. The intention is to identify and isolate cases and drive down community transmissions. -
Maram Herzallah conducts a test on a resident in the corridor outside her home. -
About 15,000 people a day are tested by the team across Abu Dhabi city and Al Ain. -
Medics work with the police given that they often have to close streets for periods of time. -
Nurse Maram Herzallah has her PPE gear checked by a colleague before starting her shift for the night. -
Screening staff are volunteers but most work in the emergency services or in hospitals by day. -
Staff must work diligently to process thousands of samples. People receive their results on the government's Al Hosn tracing app. -
Police work with medics to perform door-to-door testing on an Abu Dhabi street. -
The crew is 100 per cent mobile and carries all the equipment they need to test thousands of people each night. -
The nature of their work means changing their PPE gear frequently. -
Medics sort through Emirates IDs, which are needed to store data and deliver results. -
A group of residents are tested inside one of the crew's screening vans. Volunteers avoid going into people's homes as a precaution. -
Staff at a dry cleaners receive a nasal swab test. -
A police officer stores samples in a cool box until they can be processed. -
A shop worker is tested by a medic. -
The volunteers cover several areas of the city each week. -
Volunteers says they are proud to play their part in tackling the pandemic and driving down cases.
