Abu Dhabi has removed the UK from its green list of travel destinations.
The decision means unvaccinated passengers from the UK must quarantine in a residence or hotel for 10 days on arrival in Abu Dhabi.
Vaccinated passengers from non-green list countries are tested on arrival and six days later. They are not required to quarantine.
The test-on-arrival at Abu Dhabi airport is free, and the day six test is free in any clinic run by the public hospital group Seha.
The updated list, which is effective from Monday, January 3, comes after a surge in Covid-19 cases in many countries, largely tied to the Omicron variant.
Dubai has separate rules, including testing on arrival from some destinations. It requires only people who test positive to quarantine.
On Saturday, the UAE government said it will ban unvaccinated Emiratis from travelling abroad from January 10. The decision was not extended to expats.
Live updates: follow the latest news on Covid-19 variant Omicron
Updated Abu Dhabi green list includes:
Albania
Algeria
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma
Cambodia
Canada
China
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong (SAR)
Hungary
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Maldives
Morocco
Netherlands
Norway
Oman
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Republic of Ireland
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Seychelles
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan, Province of China
Tajikistan
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Ukraine
United States of America
Uzbekistan
Yemen
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
