A "first-of-its-kind" partnership in Canada will provide testing for passengers flying from Canada to the United Arab Emirates with Emirates and Etihad Airways.
Canada's Switch Health, a provider of COVID-19 testing, and Pure Health, a UAE-based laboratory network, joined together to provide polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 testing conducted at their Canadian facilities pre-departure for those travelling to the UAE. Upon landing in the UAE, travellers will again be tested for COVID-19 through Pure Health's on-site airport testing clinics.
Pre-departure COVID-19 PCR tests became mandatory for all travellers entering the UAE on 01AUG.
Switch Health currently has five travel clinics across the Greater Toronto Area that provide COVID-19 testing. After purchasing their airline tickets, travellers will be prompted to book appointments for testing at a nearby Switch Health travel clinic through the web portal https://screening.purehealth.ae/.
In order to board their flight, travellers must present a negative COVID-19 result valid 96 hours before departure.
Switch Health says it is "rapidly increasing" the number of collection centres across Canada to improve access to COVID-19 testing for Etihad and Emirates travellers, and is expanding such options for other airlines and destinations.
"Pure Health, in partnership with the UAE government, is leading the way on air travel in a COVID-19 world. Switch Health is pleased to be a part of a worldwide collaborative effort to open up global tourism and business, and we look forward to expanding such services for Canadian airlines," says Dilian Stoyanov, CEO of Switch Health.
Anna Kroupina Journalist
Anna is OJ's newest member and she joins the team as a writer/reporter. She co-writes the daily news and covers events. Although she's new to the industry, pursuing a career path in travel/tourism has been a goal since her first family road trip to the Florida Keys sparked a desire to discover the world and this exhilarating, fast-paced industry.
