Abu Dhabi extends Covid-19 home quarantine rules for close contact

Vaccinated people must now quarantine for seven days, up from five

Abu Dhabi residents are inoculated at the screening and vaccine centre on the Corniche. A nationwide testing and inoculation campaign is credited with driving down cases. All photos: Victor Besa / The National

Staff and nurses from the Abu Dhabi public hospital group Seha urged the public to protect themselves from Covid-19 by signing up to be vaccinated.

Motorists queue for PCR tests at Seha's testing and vaccination centre on Abu Dhabi's Corniche.

Mass testing and a successful vaccination campaign has helped the UAE to tackle the pandemic.

Drivers wait at a centre that provides both PCR nasal swab tests and coronavirus vaccine doses.

Shenaz Abdul Salam, 13, gives a thumbs up as he waits to receive his first vaccine dose.

A staff nurse fills in a vaccination form for a driver at the Corniche centre.

Mariam Al Badi, an Emirati nurse working at Seha's drive-through vaccine centre, has urged everyone to get inoculated against Covid-19.

Ms Al Badi goes through the vaccination process with a driver.

Cars queue at the drive-through testing and vaccination centre on Abu Dhabi's Corniche.

More than 80 per cent of the UAE population has been vaccinated and the government is urging those who have not to sign up.

An Abu Dhabi resident gives the thumbs up after signing up for vaccination.

Authorities have made the vaccines free for everyone.

A medical worker checks papers as Abu Dhabi residents sign up for the Covid-19 vaccine.

The drive-through Covid-19 testing and inoculation centre has proved popular with Abu Dhabi residents.

Abu Dhabi has extended home quarantine rules for people in contact with those who tested Covid-19 positive.

Authorities on Tuesday said anyone vaccinated must quarantine for seven days and take a PCR test on day six. If the PCR test result is negative, they can remove the tracker device on day seven.

Unvaccinated people must quarantine for 12 days and take a PCR test on day 11. They can remove the device on day 12 once the test is negative.

Previously, home quarantine was five days, with a PCR test required to be taken on day four.

The move was announced by the Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Committee, in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre.

Electronic wristbands can be removed at centres including Mina Zayed, Mafraq Hospital and Adnec in Abu Dhabi; Al Ain Convention Centre; Madinat Zayed in Al Dhafra; and all Abu Dhabi Health Services hospitals in Al Dhafra.

The announcement follows Sunday's announcement that vaccinated travellers flying into the emirate from countries not on its green list will have to quarantine for seven days, instead of five.

Unvaccinated passengers from countries not on the green list will have to quarantine for 12 days, instead of 10.

People arriving from countries on the green list do not need to quarantine. The move came into effect on July 5.

Parents travelling with unvaccinated children who are returning to Abu Dhabi after the summer holidays must plan for a quarantine period before they return to school.

Under recent rules, all school staff and pupils aged 16 and over must have had both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine by the start of the new school term.

Private schools in Abu Dhabi are currently waiting for updates from the authorities on testing policies and protocols for children and staff who have travelled outside the Emirates during the summer holidays.

Authorities have used mass testing, strict guidelines and one of the world's fastest vaccination programmes to curb the pandemic.

More than 64 per cent of the UAE population is fully vaccinated, while at least three in four have received one dose.