Removal of the United States, France, Belgium and Luxembourg from the list of mandatory hotel quarantine

The United States, France, Belgium and Luxembourg were removed from mandatory hotel quarantine (MHQ) this evening, with immediate effect.

All European countries have been removed from Ireland’s list after Health Minister Stephen Donnelly confirmed this evening.

This will pave the way for the resumption of essential travel from these countries to Ireland, but travelers from the United States and Europe should still monitor home quarantines.

European Union Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders confirmed earlier today that the European Union Commission is actively working with the Irish government «to see how it can facilitate the lifting of measures.»

Before today’s announcement, all arrivals from these countries were legally required to quarantine a particular hotel for a period of 14 days.

Now, travelers from all European Union and US countries are not required to enter MHQ but must have a negative result from a PCR test taken 72 hours prior to arrival in Ireland.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said: «In addition, it is also a legal requirement that those coming from unspecified countries adhere to home quarantine for a period of 14 days.»

« Shortening the 14-day home isolation period can only be done if you receive RT-PCR undetected [negative] I took the test results for at least five days after arrival. «

Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced today that Ireland will adopt the European Union’s digital green certification, which will bring with it the return of non-essential travel within the European Union, and potentially the United States.

This will be available for those who have been fully vaccinated, those who have recovered from Covid-19 or those who could produce a negative PCR result within three days of travel.

Given concerns about a new variant of Covid-19 first discovered in India, people traveling from Great Britain are «strongly advised» to benefit from free testing five days after arriving in Ireland, and to strictly adhere to legal requirements for home quarantine.

Transport Minister Eamonn Ryan confirmed earlier that travelers coming to Ireland from the United Kingdom must undergo a 14-day home quarantine.

“Concerns have been expressed in Great Britain regarding the troubling variety that is now the predominant dynasty there.

We will therefore require people coming from Great Britain to quarantine their homes unless they are fully vaccinated. «We will keep this under review and I hope later in the summer that we can open up more to the common travel area,» said Minister Ryan.

The variant now accounts for up to 60% of all new cases across many regions in the UK and is believed to soon become the dominant variant.

The variant is thought to be up to 60% more transmissible than the British variant – the variant prevalent in Ireland – according to the UK public health advisory group SAGE.