The majority of travellers had gone to Uganda for their annual break, while others had gone there to celebrate Christmas with their relatives or families. They were supposed to go back to the UAE in January.
However, on December 27, 2021, the UAE announced that passengers from Uganda and citizens of several other countries would not be permitted to enter or transit via Dubai. The authorities took this action to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Passengers who have visited through Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo (Congo – Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, or Zimbabwe in the previous 14 days are not permitted to enter Dubai, according to the Emirates airline website.
Sahil Qudra, a math and physics teacher at Cambridge International School Dubai, returned home to see his ailing mother in mid-December.
He intended to return to the UAE before the end of 2021 to start teaching on January 3, the second semester.
However, he was taken aback when airline representatives at Entebbe International Airport notified him and other customers that their flights had been cancelled. After going through the necessary COVID-19 travel precautions, they received the news just a few hours before leaving.
According to the teacher, “I was returning to the UAE and was already at Entebbe airport at 12:30 pm when I received the dreadful news that all flights from Uganda to UAE had been cancelled.”
“It was the news which completely took me aback because we were not informed of the flight cancellations in advance by the airline. I had my two COVID-19 tests, which is required for my trip to Dubai.”
Quadra added, “It was the worst experience in my history of travelling.”
“It’s ludicrous, to say the least. On January 3, I am supposed to be in my class teaching my students, “He expressed.
Moreover, quadra was concerned for his kids and wife, alone in the UAE.
“My wife is not feeling well, and she has nobody who can take care of her. All I can do here is hope that situations will get better and we can travel to UAE soon.”