Ireland's quarantine hotel system due to start this week

A quarantine hotel system for travellers arriving into the Republic of Ireland from high risk countries is due to come into effect later this week, according to the minister for public expenditure.

The mandatory quarantine legislation was approved two weeks ago.

It will apply to those arriving from 33 countries considered "high risk" and those without a negative Covid-19 test.

Mr Michael McGrath said "huge" progress had been made on the issue.

He told RTÉ News further details of how the system will operate will be outlined this week.

"Agreement has now been reached with the selected operator and in the next day or so Minister Stephen Donnelly will outline further details of the operational nature of the hotel quarantining, with a view to quarantining in hotels coming into effect later this week," he said.

"This is a very complex issue and it does involve very significant interference with people's civil liberties, but it is for the greater good and that's why the Government was determined to do this properly and to get it done."

The 33 countries designated as "high risk" by the Irish government are made up mainly from countries in South America and Africa.

Brazil and South Africa were the first to be added to the list on 5 February with 18 more countries added to the list a week later.

On Sunday, the Department of Health in Ireland recorded the highest daily increase in coronavirus cases since 26 February, with 769 new cases.

There have been 230,599 cases since the pandemic began.

It also reported two additional Covid-related deaths, both of which occurred in March, bringing its total to 4,587.