Ireland to lengthen quarantine for partially vaccinated Britons

Ireland will double the quarantine period for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated arrivals from Britain to 10 days but still plans to allow people to move more freely between the two countries from mid-July, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said.

The change is due to the rapid spread of the more infectious Delta variant in Britain, which delayed plans to lift most remaining COVID-19 restrictions there by a month on Monday.

“It is just to reflect concern about the Delta variant and to try and hold back the development of that variant here as much as we can and give us time to get vaccines out to give us cover against it,” Ryan told reporters on Tuesday.

Ireland has the strictest travel restrictions in the EU and its advice against non-essential travel will remain in place until July 19 when it adopts the European Union’s COVID-19 certificate and applies the same approach to Britain.

Unvaccinated arrivals must currently present a negative test and self-quarantine for five days until they take

via Reuters