The United Arab Emirates will be taken off the UK’s travel corridor list, meaning travellers returning from the destination will have to quarantine for 10 days.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps made the announcement on Twitter shortly after 7.30pm on Monday 11^th January.

It means that from 4am on January 12^th,  travellers arriving in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm Al-Quwain, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah must self-isolate for 10 days.

Dubai in particular had been a popular destination over the winter, having been added to the government’s list of travel corridors in November, and had provided a vital market for travel companies operating on little income as a result of Covid restrictions.

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%.  People currently in the UAE are encouraged to follow the local rules, return home as normal and check the FCDO’s travel advice pages on GOV.UK for further information.

Shapps tweeted: “>span class="r-18u37iz">#UAE from the #TRAVELCORRIDOR list. From 0400 Tuesday 12^th January anyone arriving from the UAE will need to SELF-ISOLATE.”

His tweets followed an announcement yesterday that Dubai was to be removed from Scotland’s ‘safe’ travel list at 4am today.