Dubai Travel Information: Latest COVID rules/sources – a primer

 

The first 3 places you should ALWAYS check for Dubai Travel Information are:

1. Home government official travel advice

FCDO Advice for UAE

Although aimed at British nationals overseas, their advice is comprehensive and useful for all.

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/united-arab-emirates

2. Destination government travel advice

Visit Dubai – COVID Hub

Here’s the Visit Dubai hub, with a few decent links.

https://www.visitdubai.com/en/coronavirus-advisory

National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA)

Official COVID-19 statistics, but also follow on Twitter as they often announce any protocols or rule changes there.

https://covid19.ncema.gov.ae/en

3. Your airline/carrier

Emirates (based in DXB, AUH)

https://www.emirates.com/english/help/covid-19/

Etihad (based in Abu Dhabi, AUH)

https://www.etihad.com/en-gb/travel-updates/covid-19

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Local Media

The National

Start with The National. Although it's often more Abu Dhabi-centric than Dubai, it's closer to Government sources and better standards of reporting (IMO) than Gulf News (which often is paywalled) or Khaleej Time with a brief roundup. Here's their roundup of the latest key rules in Dubai and Abu Dhabi

https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/covid-19-rules-in-dubai-and-abu-dhabi-this-weekend-what-you-need-to-know-1.1151351

Emirates News Agency

Official Emirates News Agency (sometimes a bit self-congratulatory or ‘spin' but often, official announcements are published here before the local media)

http://wam.ae/en

Trip Advisor – Dubai Forum

Although a Forum, there are heaps of ‘real world’ threads in there from travellers who have travelled to Dubai during the pandemic, including some feedback from those unlucky to have tested positive and had to quarantine.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowForum-g295424-i872-Dubai_Emirate_of_Dubai.html

Abu Dhabi Media Office

Abu Dhabi is a different Emirate to Dubai, and often the rules are different, so it’s worth following Abu Dhabi Media Office on Twitter for updates.

https://twitter.com/admediaoffice/

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Tips and Tricks

It’s often worth looking at signing for email alerts or add pages to RSS feeds/newsreaders like Feedly to follow all updates.

Another tip is to set up a Google Alert for a specific keyword (e.g. NCEMA or Emirates) which will then email you any mentions of the word in the news etc.

Link > Google Alerts.        Feedly