UAE Gives Green Light to Inbound Travels from Caspian Region

Authorities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) eased pandemic-related travel restrictions for travelers from 73 countries, including all five Caspian Sea littoral states. 

Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Russia have been confirmed as safe in terms of the epidemiological situation, according to the “Green List” that lifts mandatory quarantine measures for those entering Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

“Travelers will be required to present a negative COVID-19 PCR test result, valid for a maximum of 48 hours before departure and undergo a PCR test upon arrival at Abu Dhabi International Airport,” the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi explained.

“Vaccinated passengers from the updated ‘Green List’ will take another PCR test on day 6 (the day of arrival into Abu Dhabi is counted as day 1). Unvaccinated travelers arriving from the ‘Green List’ countries are required to take PCR tests on days 6 and 9.”

According to the statement, travelers from countries included on the list are exempted from mandatory quarantine measures for travel, and the decision refers to inbound travel origin but not citizenship of passengers.

Russia accounts for the largest number of COVID-19 infections in the Caspian Sea region, with more than 10.4 million registered cases, according to Worldometer. At least 305,000 people died from the virus in the country as of December 27, 2021. At the same time, nearly 45 percent of Russia’s population of 144 million has been fully vaccinated against the deadly virus.

Meanwhile, nearly 615,000 cases of coronavirus infection have been identified in Azerbaijan since the pandemic began, of which almost 596,000 people have recovered from the deadly disease. At the same time, more than 4.6 million people in Azerbaijan, or 46 percent of the country’s total population, received both doses against the novel coronavirus. The “booster dose,” which helps strengthen the protection created by the previous two shots, has been given to over 1.4 million residents.

In Iran, nearly 6.2 million people have contracted the virus, of which more than 131,000 have died. Fifty-nine percent of around 84 million people have completed their vaccination, as reported by the Our World in Data project. In Kazakhstan, registered infection cases stand slightly below one million at 986,911, with roughly 13,000 patients having lost their lives. The number of vaccinated people in the country accounts for 45 percent of its population of 18.75 million.

No report is available about Turkmenistan, where no cases of COVID-19 infection have been reported so far.