The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has temporarily suspended issuing new visas to visitors from Pakistan and 11 other countries until further notice. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry confirmed the news on Wednesday saying that the decision by the UAE authorities “is believed to be related to the second wave of COVID-19,” The Express Tribune reported. “We learned that the UAE has temporarily suspended the issuance of new visit visas until more are announced for 12 countries, including Pakistan,” said the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri.
In addition to Pakistan, the UAE government suspended the issuance of visit visas to Turkey, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Kenya, and Afghanistan, among others.
This development comes amid a growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country. For almost a week, Pakistan has registered more than 2,000 new cases of coronavirus.
In June, when cases were on the rise in Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates had announced a temporary suspension of passenger services.
Pakistan has so far recorded 363,380 coronavirus cases and 7,230 deaths. There are 30,362 active cases of COVID-19 in the country, Geo News reported.
(This story was posted from a cable agency feed with no text changes. Only the title has been changed.)
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