Government is likely to ban non-essential travels from countries on the red list

The Government is set to enforce travel restrictions from countries with high coronavirus outbreaks.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly tweeted yesterday that, ‘Many are concerned about travel/tourists coming to Ireland from countries with high Covid rates.’

Hence his department is looking options for restricting non-essential travel from third countries (outside EU/UK) with high rates of Covid.

‘These options will be finalised as soon as possible. While travel-related cases here remain small, some countries are seeing a rapid rise in cases so the risk is increasing. Once proposals are finalised they will be presented to Gov for discussion,’ he further posted.

The top two virus-affected countries, such as the US and Brazil, would be on the so-called ‘red list’. The latest report reveals that the US has crossed 5 million cases, and Brazil has registered 3.4 million cases.

Currently there is no specific list on restricting travel. The third worst hit country, India, with more than 2.2 million cases, can also be on the ‘red list’.

The government compiled the list of counties on the ‘green list.’ People traveling to Ireland from these countries are not required to complete a quarantine period of 14 days.