UAE Travel Update: Rapid PCR test counters to be set up at Pak airports to facilitate UAE-bound travellers

Mian Mujahid Shah, Gulf Today

The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Sunday announced that it will provide space to UAE-approved medical laboratories to establish their counters at all major airports to conduct rapid PCR tests for coronavirus.

The decision comes after hundreds of passengers were denied boarding passes to travel to the UAE for not having rapid PCR test reports, which is required to be conducted within four hours before the departure of flight.

In a statement, CAA Director General Khaqan Murtaza said all Pakistani laboratories accredited by the UAE authorities and its airlines will establish their counters at all international airports to facilitate the UAE-bound passengers.

He added that the decision has been taken in view of difficulties being faced by UAE-bound travellers.

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A day earlier, the CAA had said that the country did not have resources to conduct rapid PCR tests at the airports.

In a letter written to the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the authority stated that the rapid PCR testing facility cannot be provided to departing passengers for UAE and other emirates as it was currently unavailable at all major airports in Pakistan.  

The CAA urged foreign ministry to take up the issue with the UAE government so that Pakistani passengers could travel without facing any hassle.

The UAE's National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority (NCEMA) had lifted a ban on transit passenger traffic from Pakistan and other countries on Aug.5.

NCEMA said on Twitter that passengers travelling from countries where flights had been suspended would be able to transit through its airports as long as they present negative PCR tests taken 72 hours prior to departure.