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Improvements to Ireland’s Covid-19 figures during the Level 5 lockdown have seen it change from ‘red’ to ‘orange’ in this week’s EU ‘traffic light’ travel updates.
The Canary Islands have also gone from ‘red’ to ‘orange’ in the weekly magazine.
Both now join Iceland and parts of Greece, Norway and Finland on the ‘orange’ list. Only Greenland and a single region of Finland are “green”; all the rest is “red” or “gray”.
At level 5, Irish residents are advised to avoid all non-essential travel, and passengers arriving here must respect local restrictions.
However, if the lockdown restrictions ease in the coming weeks and Ireland continues to rate ‘orange’ or becomes ‘green’, that may open the door to a small but significant increase in travel.
Passengers from ‘orange’ countries generally face fewer restrictions than those from ‘red’ countries, although this may differ from region to region.
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Councilor Tony Murphy, Chairman of the Fingal City Council Economic and Tourism Strategy and Policy Committee, and Darren Somers, Team Leader, RocDoc, Dublin Airport. photo: Maxwells
Starting November 23, for example, Spain will require that all arrivals from the “red” regions have negative PCR test results. Travelers from ‘orange’ countries will not have to produce them on the continent, although all tourists must show negative PCR results or antigen tests upon arrival in the Canary Islands.
Ireland allows travelers from “orange” areas to avoid quarantine if they carry proof of a negative PCR test result obtained within the previous 72 hours, while arrivals from “red” countries must be quarantined for 14 days .
That will change on November 29, when passengers from ‘red’ regions or countries outside the EU can shorten the quarantine with a negative PCR test result after five days.
Although NPHET and the Government continue to take a hard line on travel, the move from ‘red’ to ‘orange’ will not go unnoticed by people planning to return home for Christmas.
The EU’s “traffic light” maps are updated every Thursday by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), according to data provided by member states.
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Source: Council of the European Union.
Under the system, countries qualify as ‘orange’ if they have an average of fewer than 50 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people during the previous 14 days and a positive test result rate of 4 percent or more, or a rate of between 50 and 150 cases per 100,000 with positive results of less than 4 percent.
As of yesterday, Ireland’s 14-day incidence rate was 121.3 per 100,000 people, and its seven-day test positivity rate was 3.8 percent.
Regions are classified as “gray” if there is insufficient information or if the testing rate is less than 300 cases per 100,000.
Overall, the numbers have trended lower since the shutdown, though a recent spike has public health experts worried, the coronavirus is on the rise in Europe, and NPHET has said it’s too early to call for Christmas trips. .
The news comes as PCR testing accelerates at Irish airports, and Dublin, Cork and Shannon partnered with private healthcare companies to launch services last week.
PCR tests on foot and by car range from € 99 to € 189, depending on the type and time it takes to obtain results.
Furthermore, the European Commission yesterday supported rapid antigen testing, encouraging member states to adopt a more widespread use of screening tests.
Antigen tests are faster and cheaper than PCR tests, but also less reliable. The Irish government has approved only PCR tests as a “gold standard” in travel for now, but has said this could be revised.
Aer Lingus welcomed the passage of the EC.
Any test must be “fast, affordable and scalable” to facilitate a significant increase in safe international travel, “it said in a statement.
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