Coronavirus: UAE repatriates 73 individuals from Qatar through Kuwait
The UAE repatriated 73 individuals who were stuck in Qatar due to the coronavirus pandemic through Kuwait, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
The COVID-19 pandemic left people stranded abroad for months due to flight disruptions and countries closing their borders and airspace.
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“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation completed the air repatriation of Emirati citizens and their companions from Qatar through Kuwait to the UAE, where 73 people were repatriated, of which 41 were Emiratis along with 32 of their companions,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The repatriation included humanitarian cases, elderly citizens, pregnant women and several people with chronic diseases,” the ministry added.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khalid Abdullah Humaid Belhoul, thanked Kuwait for its cooperation in repatriation the Emirati citizens on Kuwait Airways.
The UAE stated in mid-July that its airspace will remain closed to Qatar flights and that it will present to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) the legal case supporting its right to close its airspace to Qatari aircraft.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt had severed diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism – a charge Doha denies.
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