DUBLIN: Ireland has not officially included passengers from India in the mandatory hotel quarantine list, despite approval from a cabinet meeting last Monday.
Ireland is still sympathetic to India, even as most major European countries have declared India a high-risk region and put it on the “red list”. But Indians arriving in Ireland via the Gulf countries or any of the high-risk European countries will have to enter the quarantine.
It was last Sunday the health minister Stephen Donnelly told the media that India would be included in the list of mandatory hotel quarantine within 48 hours. The next day, the health minister had sought the cabinet’s approval to include India and Iran in the high-risk category.
Since there are no direct flights from India to Ireland, the Irish government is of the view that there is no need of hurry in adding Indians to the quarantine list. Perhaps India will be added to the official list this week, as people who currently reside outside of Ireland have a reasonable amount of time to travel to Ireland.
Conditions for exemption from mandatory hotel quarantine
Ireland is one of the countries that has introduced strict quarantine measures and added more number of European countries to the mandatory hotel quarantine list to prevent the spread of COVID-19. However, there are people inside and outside the country who support and mock these measures. Hotel quarantine law in Ireland also gives exemptions for certain categories.
Those who have been fully vaccinated will not have to go to the mandatory hotel quarantine when coming to Ireland. But they need to produce a proof of it. Dependents traveling with them, including children, will be exempted from the mandatory hotel quarantine.
Those who received vaccine doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNtech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson are excluded from quarantine.
Those who arrive in Ireland after receiving the Covishield vaccine, which is administered in India, will not be required to undergo the mandatory hotel quarantine because it is the same as the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Quarantine exemptions are also granted for parents traveling with newborns (born within 28 days). However, all these passengers have to undergo a negative pre-departure RT-PCR test and complete the self-quarantine as specified in the passenger locator form.
Essential workers are exempted from the mandatory hotel quarantine. Exemptions are also given for those traveling for unavoidable, essential, or medical reasons.
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