Ireland has decided that it will delay the ease of quarantine and travel restrictions from people travelling from abroad until July 20. The government previously announced that restrictions would be eased from July 9. The delay comes due to concern about travel-related infections after Ireland’s outgoing Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, mentioned that he was genuinely concerned about people taking abroad vacations and increasing the risk of re-importing infection back into the country.
Therefore, the Ireland government advised once again that people should not engage in non-essential travel outside Ireland immediately. Transport Minister Eamon Ryan announced that a “green list” of countries with low COVID-19 rates will be published on July 20 or before the mentioned the date. He also shared that the list will start operating after the official declaration.
According to the current system, any individual visiting Ireland from abroad, resident or otherwise, is asked to self-isolate for 14 days. However, it is likely that people arriving from green list countries would exempted from isolating themselves. Travellers might also have to fill out a coronavirus passenger locator form with details about the placed they intend to self-isolate.
Ryan also mentioned that Ireland is planning to drop quarantine rules for countries whose infection rates are similar if not better than Ireland. He also shared that that the government is considering a certain element of COVID-19 testing at airports but every visitor would not be tested. He added that the latest decision has been undertaken as Ireland tried to avoid an “avalanche” of Irish people travelling abroad and that the government would continue to encourage people to take holidays at home.
On the other hand, neighbouring Britain already ended coronavirus quarantines for people arriving in England from more than 50 countries on Friday. Contrary to that of Ireland, the U.K. government published a long list consisting of 73 countries and territories that English holidaymakers are allowed to visit without self-isolating for two weeks upon their return. However, as Ireland has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe at present with just three infections per 100,000 people during the past two weeks, government ministers have indicated that the list of exempted countries is likely to be much shorter as compared to England.
Tags: Ireland, COVID-19, Ireland Tourism
