DUBLIN, (Reuters) – Ireland today added 13 mainly Central and South American countries to its 14-day mandatory quarantine list, which requires arrivals from countries designated as “high risk” to quarantine in designated hotels.
The government introduced legislation this week to bring in mandatory hotel quarantine and intends to commence the operation in the coming weeks. Arrivals from the countries will be allowed to quarantine at any address until the system is in place.
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela were added to the initial list of 20 countries.
The government says the measures protect the country from new COVID-19 variants after the more infectious B1.1.7 variant first detected in Britain recently became the dominant strain in Ireland, slowing the suppression of its deadliest wave to date.
Ireland’s mandatory quarantine list is now broadly similar to the 33 countries on neighbouring England’s “red list”, where a hotel system was put in place this month.
