Emirates airline announces suspension of India-UAE flights until further notice

Dubai: Emirates airline on Friday announced the suspension of its passenger flights from India to the UAE until further notice.

According to a report published in the Khaleej Times, passengers who have transited through India in the last 14 days will not be accepted to travel from any other point to the UAE.

Citizens of UAE, holders of UAE Golden Visas and members of diplomatic missions who comply with the revised published Covid-19 protocols are exempted from the restrictions.

Earlier, UAE authorities announced the decision to ban Emiratis from travelling to 14 countries, including India, amidst fears of the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant.

Other countries in the list are Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria.

The directive was issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation (MoFAIC) and the National Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA).

UAE diplomatic missions in all these countries, official delegations and previously authorised business and technical delegates were exempt from the decision.

While the COVID-19 infection numbers continue to be under control in the UAE, one out of three new cases was the Delta variant.

With inputs from agencies