Emirates is initiating a new program requiring passengers to receive blood tests for COVID-19 before boarding flights.

The Dubai-based airline released a statement announcing that the first pre-flight blood tests were administered on Wednesday at Dubai International Airport, according to CNN.

"We are working on plans to scale up testing capabilities in the future and extend it to other flights," Adel Al Redha, Emirates's chief operating officer, said in a statement.

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Tests were given to passengers before a flight to Tunisia and conducted by the Dubai Health Authority, granting customers results within 10 minutes.

The blood tests are primarily for identifying the existence of antibodies in passengers' immune systems. If detected, the presence of antibodies could indicate that a passenger is battling a viral infection.

The airline has not said whether passengers would be rejected from boarding the plane based on test results.

The Hill reached out to Emirates for further clarification on the matter.

Emirates claims to be the first airline to roll out pre-flight blood tests. However, Etihad Airways announced it would deploy self-service kiosk units examining temperature, heart rate and respiratory rates for passengers.