It’s all part of enabling a more streamlined route of access to the capital…

Last week there were some big changes to Abu Dhabi’s entry policy for both air travel and road access.

Part of the changes involved extending the window between receiving a negative Covid test result and being able to enter Abu Dhabi by road (increased from 48 hours to 72 hours). That means there’s now a three day grace period between getting test results back and being able to enter the capital

We also learned that as of December 24, the DPI rapid test centre at Ghantoot would be shut down.

What do I do now if I need to enter Abu Dhabi?

Yesterday Abu Dhabi Media Office shared the news that under instruction of Abu Dhabi Emergency Crisis and Disasters Committee, local authorities have installed a replacement service — 18 drive-through DPI test centres on both sides of the Al Faya Road (before Ghantoot).

The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is part of a strategy to ease the flow of traffic at the border in peak times.

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PCR testing centres are all still available across the UAE as well as those in private healthcare facilities.

The main benefits of the finger-prick DPI tests over the nasal swab PCR tests is that the results are obtained within a few minutes. They’re also more affordable, with a price tag of around Dhs50 per test, compared to PCR tests start at around Dhs85.

Do I need to book these tests?

There has been no confirmation on whether there will be changes to the current booking process, which can be accessed via the booking portal ghantoot.quantlase.com.

The previous DPI test centre did accept on the spot appointments, without advanced bookings. And this looks like it will continue with the drive-through tests.

More information will follow as soon as we have it.

Images: Abu Dhabi Media Office