Abu Dhabi Airports has launched rapid free Covid-19 PCR testing for all arrivals, alongside partners Pure Health and Tamouh Healthcare.

Passengers will not be allowed to leave the airport until the test has been completed – with authorities hoping to provide results in around 90 mins.

A new laboratory has the capacity to test more than 20,000 travellers and staff per day.

Designed to ensure the health, safety, and wellbeing of travellers and staff at Abu Dhabi International Airport, the new Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing process is free for arriving passengers and offers results in approximately 90 minutes.

Shareef Hashim Al Hashmi, chief executive of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: “Through partnering with Pure Health and Tamouh Healthcare, Abu Dhabi International Airport is now able to offer travellers state-of-the-art rapid testing services delivered by a dedicated laboratory facility.

“The introduction of the RT-PCR Covid-19 testing is a milestone achievement in our ongoing efforts to facilitate the safe resumption of international air travel and support the recovery of the aviation industry.”

All passengers arriving at Abu Dhabi International Airport through both terminals 1 and 3 will be tested at the facility.

Passengers who receive a negative PCR test and are arriving from the list of ‘green’ countries outlined by the government of Abu Dhabi, will not have to self-isolate.

Those arriving from countries not on the ‘green’ list will have to self-isolate for a period of ten days, and will require a quarantine wristband fitted at the PCR testing tent attached to the airport.

Passengers transiting through the airport will not be tested prior to departing for their final destinations.