New advice has been issued by Government.
People arriving into Ireland from the UK are advised to take daily Covid-19 tests following their arrival, according to new measures outlined by the Government.
Passengers travelling from Britain are asked to undertake daily antigen tests for a period of five consecutive days, starting with the first day they arrive.
Should anyone return a positive antigen test or merely develop Covid symptoms, they are advised to self-isolate immediately and to book a PCR test.
The current requirement for all overseas passengers to have a “not-detected” pre-departure Covid test – antigen or PCR, depending on vaccine recovery status – will continue to apply.
Speaking on The Tonight Show on Virgin Media One on Thursday night following the announcement of the latest measures, Taoiseach Micheál Martin underlined that this is “advisory” rather than “regulatory”, though he encouraged the public to adhere to the new practices.
Asked about potential further restrictions with Christmas just two weeks away, the Taoiseach largely stuck to his guns, noting that while he is hopeful that no major new constraints will arise, he cannot rule anything out at this moment in time and will continue to assess the situation in line with public health advice.
The latest change arrives shortly after six cases of the Omicron variant were officially confirmed in Ireland.
HSE chief Paul Reid said that he anticipates the Omicron strain will become dominant throughout the country before long.
“There are now six confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in Ireland,” said Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan.
“A number of other probable cases are under investigation.”
On Thursday evening, 4,022 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed by the Department of Health.
530 people are presently hospitalised in relation to the virus, of whom 115 are in ICU.
Featured Image via Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie
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