Health Ministry issues severe travel warning against UAE

In light of the morbidity in the country, the Health Ministry added the United Arab Emirates to the list of countries under severe travel warning, it announced on Wednesday.

The list currently includes Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Maldives, Namibia, Nepal, Paraguay, Seychelles, Tunisia, Uganda and Uruguay.

The designation does not carry any practical consequence, other than the fact that the UAE is now under special observation – and if the situation does not improve in the near future, the authorities could decide to add it to the list of countries under travel ban.

The list of banned countries currently includes Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa – after Ethiopia, Turkey and Ukraine were removed from the group on Monday. Israelis are prohibited from traveling to these destinations unless they receive permission from a special governmental committee. In addition, all those who return to Israel from these nations are required to enter quarantine even if they are vaccinated or have recovered.

Because Israel is in a better situation than most countries, the ministry also recommends that people avoid all nonessential travels.

In the months following the Abraham Accords reached in summer 2020, which normalized relations between Israel and the UAE, tens of thousands of Israelis flocked to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, before Israel began to significantly reduce the ability of its citizens to travel, shutting its borders completely in January.

According to many experts, Israel paid a heavy price for the government decision not to restrict travel to the UAE that fall and thousands of infected people brought back the disease when they returned.