AFP / KARIM SAHIB
DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates on Thursday warned its citizens and its foreign residents not to travel anywhere abroad amid the ongoing worldwide coronavirus outbreak.
The country's Health and Community Protection Ministry warning comes as its capital, Abu Dhabi, sent 215 foreigners it evacuated from hard-hit Hubei in China to quarantine.
Health officials warned that those traveling abroad could face quarantine themselves at the discretion of authorities.
Authorities in the Gulf state may order medical checks on returning travellers and ask them to stay in isolation at home, WAM cited a health ministry statement as saying.
The UAE, which is closing schools and educational institutions for four weeks on March 8, said students and education workers would have to spend 14 days at home after returning from overseas.
The UAE has reported at least 27 coronavirus cases. On Wednesday, Dubai's health authority said a student had contracted the virus from a parent who had travelled overseas.
Medical tests are already being conducted on passengers arriving from China, Italy, Lebanon, and Thailand at Dubai airport and entering the country, Emirates says on its website.
Transit passengers are not being tested but will have their temperature checked before boarding their connecting flight, Emirates added.
Passengers arriving and entering from Syria are also being tested, according to an internal Emirates staff email dated February 29 which mentions China, Italy and Lebanon but not Thailand.
The test is a nasal swab and temperature check, it says.
The latest move may add further pressure on the economy in the Gulf state as the coronavirus outbreak weighs on consumer confidence and business productivity.
