HIQA advises the HSE that the minimum quarantine for passengers arriving in Ireland should not be increased

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has today published its advice to the Health Service Executive (HSE) on the potential impact of different testing scenarios and durations of mandatory home quarantine for people travelling to Ireland from non-designated countries (that is, countries for which hotel quarantine does not apply upon entering Ireland).

After traveling into Ireland from a non-designated country, passengers are required, by law, to quarantine at home for fourteen days. There is however an option to ‘test-out’ of quarantine by availing of a free RT-PCR test taken no less than five days after arrival and subject to receiving a negative or ‘not detected’ test result. HIQA has advised the HSE that the timing of this test should not be extended. HIQA found that extending the timing of testing beyond five days would only slightly reduce the risk of transmission, but would substantially increase the burden on passengers in terms of time spent in quarantine.