Free Covid-19 PCR tests at new lab inside Abu Dhabi International Airport

The region’s first Covid-19 PCR testing laboratory located within an airport has opened in the capital emirate, Abu Dhabi Airports has confirmed.

The lab, launched in partnership with Pure Health and Tamouh Healthcare, is capable of conducting over 20,000 tests per day. The 4,000-square-metre facility, located in Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH), will operate around the clock with up to 190 staff. It will conduct Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests for passengers as well as the staff at AUH.

The testing is free for all incoming passengers, with results available in 90 minutes – among the fastest in the world, a statement said.

All passengers arriving at Abu Dhabi International Airport through both Terminals 1 and 3, will be tested at the facility. Results of the tests will be shared by SMS and WhatsApp, and will also be made available on the Alhosn mobile app.

Passengers who receive a negative PCR test and are from the list of ‘green list’ countries will not have to self-isolate.

On Monday, the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT) modified the ‘green list’ of destinations, adding Saudi Arabia back onto the list, along with the other additions being Kazakhstan and Morocco. Effective March 8, that ‘green list’ includes 13 countries.

Read: Abu Dhabi amends ‘green list’ destinations, Saudi back in

Arrivals who are not from those countries will have to self-isolate for a period of ten days, and will require a quarantine wristband fitted at the PCR testing tent attached to the airport.

Participants in the National Vaccination Programme and Phase III clinical trials who have an identification mark (letter E or golden star) on Al Hosn app are also exempted from self-quarantine procedures.

Passengers transiting through the airport will not be tested prior to departing for their final destinations.

At the airport, a specially trained team of Wellness Ambassadors are equipped to support passengers by answering common questions relating to keeping healthy during travel, encouraging social distancing, and providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

In addition, the airport has also deployed touchless elevator technology, SterixEco Gates sterilisation tunnels, thermal scanning cameras, as well cameras with facial recognition capabilities that alert staff if passengers or visitors to the airport are displaying symptoms of Covid-19 or not wearing facemasks.

UAE’s Etihad which is based out of AUH, said last month that all pilots and cabin crew working for carrier have now been vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus, making it the world’s first airline to vaccinate its entire flying crew.

Read: UAE’s Etihad becomes world’s first airline to vaccinate entire flying crew