Despicable service!!

A ticket was booked and paid for on Thursday 13th of Jan from South Africa to Turkey via Dubai.. 12 hours later the flight is cancelled and apparently this is not the first time! Unknown to us, South Africa is still on the UAE red list but emirates will happily let you book and take your money!! Plans have been made, hotels booked etc and now no flight… they say your ticket is still valid and you can change it but when you’ve booked leave how is that even an option!!!! And I hear people are only getting 20% refunds!! It’s disgusting!! Absolutely despicable behavior from a so called “best airline in the world”