UAE scraps rapid PCR tests for passengers from several countries including Pakistan, India

Passengers arriving in the UAE from India, Pakistan and select countries only need to undergo a PCR test within 48 hours of departure, according to several airlines.

The erstwhile directive of performing an additional rapid PCR test at the airport six hours prior to departure has now been scrapped.

Dubai carrier Emirates updated the emirate’s entry requirements for passengers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Egypt and several other countries.

“All passengers from these specified countries having their final destination as Dubai must present a negative Covid‑19 PCR test certificate with a QR code for a test conducted at an approved facility within 48 hours of departure. Validity must be calculated from the time the sample was collected,” the airline said on its website.

The certificate must be a Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT PCR) test issued by certified laboratories with a QR code linked to the original report for verification purposes, it noted. UAE nationals, first degree relative(s) and their domestic help/house workers as well as children under the age of 12 and passengers who have a moderate or severe disability are exempt from PCR tests, Emirates added.

Meanwhile, Sharjah-based Air Arabia has also said that passengers no longer need to conduct a rapid PCR test at the departing airport.

In an update on its website, the low-cost carrier said: “Passengers including UAE nationals [arriving from India, Pakistan, Kenya, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Egypt and Uganda] are required to take Covid-19 PCR test, conducted within 48 hours of the flight arrival time. Passengers will go through another PCR test at the arriving airport. Passengers are no longer required to conduct Rapid PCR test at the airport 6 hours prior to departure. Children under the age of 16 years are exempt from the tests. Children arriving from Egypt under the age of 12 years are exempt from the tests.”