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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Ireland to require all arrivals show negative virus test

Ireland to require all arrivals show negative virus test

Published Jan 13, 2021 06:12 am

Ireland said Tuesday that from Saturday all arriving travellers will have to show a negative coronavirus test as the country's infection rate is now the highest in the world.

In the first such blanket restrictions, the Irish government said in a statement that all travellers will need to show a negative test result taken within the last 72 hours.

Currently this only applies to travellers from the United Kingdom and South Africa, where new highly infectious strains have been detected.

Travellers from the UK and South Africa will still have to quarantine for 14 days on arrival, even after showing a negative test result.

Ireland, a country of five million, in December had the lowest infection rate in the European Union but the number of cases has soared since a dramatic relaxation of restrictions over the festive period.

The number of confirmed cases rose from just over 93,000 cases on January 1 to more than 150,000 on Monday. The number of cases per million of population -- 1,288 -- is the highest in the world, according to data compiled by the University of Oxford.

On Tuesday, Switzerland announced a quarantine on Irish travellers as World Health Organization (WHO) emergencies director Michael Ryan said the nation has "one of the most acute increases in disease incidence of any country".

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