UAE extends ban on Vietnam flights

Other countries facing the ban are Pakistan, India, Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Zambia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and South Africa, The Gulf News reported quoting a source from the General Civil Aviation Authority.

There are continued concerns over the latest delta-plus variant of the coronavirus. A mutation of the delta variant considered to be 50 percent more transmissible than other strains, delta-plus is now present in 12 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Russia, and China.

The UAE suspended all flights from the 14 countries on June 5 due to its pandemic situation linked to the new virus strain.

The UAE has so far had over 631,000 infections and 1,807 deaths.

Several countries too have been banning and imposing stricter quarantine measures for travelers from Vietnam, which is grappling with a new wave caused by the delta variant first found in India.

Vietnam's containment of Covid was a worldwide success story until late April when a fourth wave began with 13,147 cases recorded so far.