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A new EU approach to air travel, the so-called traffic light system, comes into operation in Ireland from midnight tonight.
Those arriving from green regions can enter the state without being expected to restrict their movements or be tested for Covid-19.
Passengers from the orange regions who test negative for Covid-19 taken up to three days before arrival are informed that they do not need to restrict their movements.
Those arriving from the red regions must continue to restrict their movements for 14 days.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control will publish a map of the three-stage color system each week to indicate the level of risk in each area of the EU.
Levels will be determined by a number of factors including the 14-day incidence per 100,000 population, the number of tests performed, and the positivity rate.
Currently, the vast majority of EU countries are in the red zone.
Passengers traveling with certain essential functions do not have to restrict their movements. This includes essential workers, travel for imperative business or family reasons (for example, attending a funeral), and essential medical reasons for travel.
Passengers arriving in Ireland from Denmark must restrict their movements for 14 days to help limit the spread of the newly discovered variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their mink population.
The Department of Transport said in a statement that Ireland is currently below Level 5 and that “the advice remains that there should be no non-essential international travel.”
Also today, an Irish healthcare company revealed that it will open two Covid-19 testing centers at Cork and Shannon airports starting next Thursday.
RocDoc said it will carry out pre-departure tests for passengers, in accordance with the EU traffic light system for travel. Test results will be available in a few hours. Private service fees will start at € 149 per test.
Meanwhile, a high-level interdepartmental technical working group is due to brief the government on Tuesday with a plan to establish approved Covid-19 tests for international arrivals.
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