The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Wednesday, June 17, that it will resume flights for locals and expatriates to countries it deems as "low-risk" in terms of coronavirus cases.

This will commence starting next Tuesday, June 23, the official spokesman for the National Authority for Emergencies, Crises, and Disasters Management, Saif Aldahri said. 

Dahri told journalists that anyone who wishes to fly out of the UAE must test negative for COVID-19 and pledge to agree to commit to a 14-day quarantine.

He added that travelers must head to the sanitary checkpoint at the airport to check their body temperature. Anyone measuring more than 37.8 degrees Celsius or show disrupted breathing symptoms will be isolated. Dahri also noted that any travelers suspected of having COVID-19 will be prohibited from travel.

He clarified that countries have been categorized into three categories; low, medium, and high-risk countries, where flights are allowed only to low-risk countries. However, he did not reveal which countries are put into which categories.

He further added that flights to medium-risk countries will be for a selected group of the population in case of emergency, urgent medical reasons, visiting first-degree relatives, or military, diplomatic, and official missions.

The spokesman stressed that flights to high-risk countries are completely prohibited.