Coronavirus: UAE reports 740 Covid-19 cases, 1,956 recoveries, 1 death

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Wednesday reported 740 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 1,956 recoveries and one death.

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Pakistan has announced that it would abolish the Covid-19 PCR test requirement for vaccinated travellers from the UAE and other countries from tomorrow, February 24.

However, those passengers who are not fully vaccinated will have to carry a negative PCR test prior to the departure to Pakistan, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the body which oversees regulations related to Covid-19, said on Wednesday.

“Pre-boarding negative PCR has been abolished for fully vaccinated inbound travellers. However, non-vaccinated individuals over 12 years will require pre-boarding negative PCR taken not more than 72 hours before the departure,” the NCOC said on Wednesday.

Similarly, passengers travelling to Abu Dhabi from countries including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are no longer required to conduct rapid Covid PCR tests at the departure airport.

On the Etihad website, when passengers search for travel guidelines for flying to Abu Dhabi from cities of the aforementioned four countries, they don’t specify the need for a rapid PCR test within six hours of the flight.

Etihad Support confirmed the same on Twitter while responding to queries from passengers.

Meanwhile, the head of Dubai International Airport, one of the world's busiest, said on Tuesday he expects more countries to soon start ending rules for vaccinated passengers to be tested for Covid-19.

The United Kingdom does not require vaccinated passengers to take a Covid test, while Bahrain this month said those arriving would no longer needed to be tested.

"I do expect across the world, the testing regime for travel will start to disappear pretty quickly and we're hopeful that there will be an announcement over the next few weeks from many different places," Dubai Airports Chief Executive Paul Griffiths said.

• Dubai