United Arab Emirates has been dropped from the UK’s travel corridor list

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been dropped from the UK’s list of ‘safe’ travel corridors, after a spike in Covid-19 cases in the country.

Anyone who arrives to the UK from the UAE will now need to self isolate for 10 days, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.

52% rise in Covid cases in UAE

The Transport Secretary said the decision to remove the destination from the corridor list had to be taken “immediately” after a 52 per cent rise in new coronavirus cases was recorded.

A statement from the Department for Transport commented: “The decision has been made following a significant acceleration in the number of imported cases, along with the number of reported new cases over the past seven days, which have risen in the UAE by 52 per cent."

Scotland imposed similar measures for anyone travelling from the UAE on or after 4am on Tuesday 12 January.

Under current rules, passengers arriving from all international destinations, including the UAE, are required to present a negative Covid-19 test result taken up to three days before departing for England, Wales or Scotland.

Failure to comply will result in an immediate £500 fine.

The current travel corridor list is available to read in full on the UK government website.

A leisure travel hotspot

Under current lockdown restriction, holidays or international travel is banned, unless for work or other legally permitted reasons.

The UAE, which is made up of seven Emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm Al-Quwain, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah) has seen a flurry of reality TV stars uploading photos on social media of themselves holidaying.

They were able to travel before the rules came into place, taking advantage of the travel corridor rules. Travel corridors are countries, territories or regions from where you can travel and may not have to self isolate.

Celtic football club took a trip to Dubai for a winter training camp, which resulted in 15 playing and coaching staff self isolating after a player tested positive for Covid-19.

Earlier in the month, Formula One driver Landow Norris tested positive for Covid-19 while on holiday in Dubai.