New Quarantine Measures Go Before Cabinet Today

Legislation to allow for mandatory hotel quarantine for some people arriving into the country will go before the cabinet this morning.

Under the plans anyone arriving from a list of 20 countries deemed high risk will have to isolate at a state facility.
While plans for this had been announced a number of weeks ago the legislation has taken some time to draft and will be considered by Ministers later. It will allow them to add countries to a list for mandatory quarantine.
People coming from those countries will have to quarantine for two weeks at their own expense in a state nominated hotel, which will be policed by private security. It's expected the bill will be around 2,000 euro per adult for the stay. At present 20 countries are on the high risk list including Brazil, South Africa, Austria, the UAE and many sub-Saharan African countries due to fears about new variants. Hotel quarantine will also apply to people who arrive here without a negative PCR test and refuse to take one.
Cabinet is also expected to consider legislation that will increase fines for going on holiday from 500 euro to 2000 euro to clamp down on unnecessary journeys. The cabinet will also be updated this morning on plans for this year's Leaving Cert, but no announcement is expected until later this week.