Amid the battle to tackle the spread of the novel Coronavirus pandemic, Abu Dhabi has extended restrictions on travel movement within the Emirate by one week, starting June 16. The decision to restrict entry and exit of vehicular movement from the emirate has been taken by the Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Committee for the Covid-19 Pandemic in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Police and Department of Health to boost the efforts against the pandemic.

As per the state agency WAM report, the ban covers movement between Abu Dhabi's regions - Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, and Al Dhafrah - along with travel within and out of the emirate. Furthermore, the restrictions apply to all UAE nationals and expatriate residents.

Exemptions will be provided to people with a special travel permit such as employees in essential sectors, emergency medical cases, and all goods and mail. Moreover, the movement will be allowed within every region in accordance with the working hours of the National Sterilisation Programme.

The move will ensure the smooth operations of the expanded National Screening Programme, through which over 388K people have been tested across the UAE in the past 2 weeks. Abu Dhabi first introduced movement restrictions on June 2 to ensure mass COVID-19 testing in order to contain the spread of the virus. A number of other precautionary and preventative measures are also being undertaken by the UAE administration to protect the health of the citizens and combat the pandemic transmission.

To apply for a travel permit, people can visit this website: https://es.adpolice.gov.ae/en/movepermit

After reporting over 300 new COVID-19 cases on June 16, the UAE's total infections have crossed 42,600. Reportedly, new cases of infections have been on a decline for a while in the Emirate. At the same time, more than 28,000 people have recovered from the disease.

WAM