UAE considering travel restrictions on countries refusing to receive their citizens

The United Arab Emirates is considering imposing restrictions on nations that have refused to call their citizens back who wish to return to their home countries amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. According to reports by the UAE's state-run media, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation is considering suspending memorandum of understanding with countries that have refused to take back their citizens despite the UAE offering to fly them back home. 

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As per reports, the latest move by the UAE government came after countries didn't respond to the gulf nation's request of calling their citizens back. The United Arab Emirates is reportedly home to some 9 million people, of which 4,123 have tested positive for coronavirus and 22 have lost their lives so far. UAE has shut malls, restaurants, movie theatres in order to tackle the outbreak and help contain the spread of the virus. UAE has also halted all its flight amid the lockdown. 

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Coronavirus outbreak

The deadly coronavirus infection has claimed more than 1,14,000 lives across the world and has infected over 18,53,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019. China was the most affected country until last month before Italy and Spain surpassed it to record the most number of deaths anywhere in the world due to COVID-19. The virus is believed to have originated from a seafood market in China's Wuhan city, the epicentre of the disease, where animals were reportedly being traded illegally.

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The United States, France, the United Kingdom, and Iran have also overtaken China in terms of the COVID-19 death toll. The latest country to join the bandwagon is Belgium, where 3,600 people have died so far, compared to China's 3,341. Germany is on its way to surpass the East Asian country as it has crossed the 3,000 benchmarks last week. 

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