The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has extended its green list of countries and destinations from which travelers can enter the emirate without needing to quarantine on arrival. The latest update adds three countries to the list of approved places from where people can travel. Ireland has been added to the green list, after being removed in the last update in July. The island of Malta and Sweden have also been included following their removal in the last change. The new rules come into effect on Wednesday. In the update, Abu Dhabi has removed six countries from the green list starting Wednesday, Aug. 18. Etihad Airways, the UAE's national carrier, said Armenia, Austria, Israel, Italy, Maldives and the USA would be removed from the green list. US is among the six destinations have been removed from the green list, were COVID-19 cases have been escalating. Holiday hotspot the Maldives has also been taken off the list, meaning holidaymakers arriving back at Abu Dhabi after 2 p.m. on Wednesday will face home quarantine. Following the removal of six countries, the green list will shrink to 28 countries. It includes Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Malta, Mauritius, Moldova, New Zealand, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and Ukraine. Four countries — Bahrain, Greece, Serbia and Seychelles — have been listed as travel corridors. If travelers coming from these four countries are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, they will not be required to quarantine upon arrival in Abu Dhabi. Those flying into Abu Dhabi from a country not on the green list must follow the current isolation rules, which include wearing an electronic wrist tracker and quarantine for seven days if they have been fully vaccinated. Quarantine rules apply to both vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers, however, the length of quarantine for unvaccinated people has recently been shortened from 12 to 10 days. The rules also now apply to tourists, as well as residents. Passengers should have received the final vaccine dose at least 28 days before the flight and also shown on the Al Hosn app. From Aug. 20, Etihad said vaccinations taken outside the UAE would also be recognized — including Sinopharm, Sinovac, Janssen, Pfizer, Sputnik V, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Moderna. Not all countries on Abu Dhabi's list are open for tourism. Travelers should check individual destination requirements for the most recent regulations. — Agencies
