UAE residents have mixed feelings about travel amid COVID-19 variant Omicron

UAE residents have mixed feelings about travel amid COVID-19 variant Omicron

Residents in the United Arab Emirates say they have mixed feelings about traveling ahead of the Christmas season as the new COVID-19 variant Omicrondisrupts international travel.

Fallout from the new, potentially riskier COVID-19 variant first detected in southern Africa is adding fresh frustrations for travelers, just as they were glimpsing a return to normalcy.

For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.

The US, European Union members, Canada, and Hong Kong are among the countries restricting travel from several nations in southern Africa.

The UK also halted flights, placing six African countries on its travel red list and will require arriving travelers to quarantine in hotels in an attempt to quash the spread of the B.1.1.529 variant — to which the World Health Organization has assigned the Greek letter Omicron.

It has also resumed extra restrictions such as requiring the use of face masks in public.

Some countries have gone one step further, with Japan and Israel both shutting their borders to international travelers.

In the UAE, some residents are nervous about pressing ahead with travel plans, while others say the new variant – and travel restrictions – will not stop them going home this Christmas

Kathy Scheepmaker, a manager at the Royal Atlantis Resort and Residences, spoke