Ireland has changed its testing requirements for entry with almost immediate effect.
Pre-departure testing is no longer required with effect from 12:01 am on Thursday, 6 January 2022.
Travelers who are not vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 will still be required to conduct pre-departure RT-PCR testing no more than 72 hours before arrival in Ireland.
All arrivals into Ireland are still required to complete a Passenger Locator Form.
The pre-departure testing requirement for all travelers was introduced in Ireland at the emergence of the Omicron variant. However, public health officials have now advised that Ireland can revert to its previous measures.
Effective from tomorrow, January 6 at 12:01 am in Ireland:
- Vaccinated or recovered travelers into Ireland are required to present evidence of a valid Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) or other acceptable proof of vaccination/previous infection prior to travel;
- Travelers that are not vaccinated o recovered (with the exception of the exemptions specified on gov.ie, including children aged 11 and under) are required to present evidence of a not detected RT-PCR test carried out no more than 72 hours before their arrival into Ireland; and
- Any individual that develops COVID-19 symptoms should follow the HSE guidance in relation to isolation and undertaking antigen or RT-PCR testing as appropriate.
A non-Digital COVID Certificate proof of vaccination means a record or evidence in written or electronic form in English or Irish or an official translation into Irish or English which contains the following:
- confirmation that the person to whom the record or evidence refers is a vaccinated person
- the date or dates on which the person was vaccinated
- the body in the state concerned implementing the vaccination programme (howsoever described) on behalf of the state that administered or caused to be administered the vaccination to the person concerned; or the body in the state concerned that has been authorized to issue such record or other evidence to the person concerned
- the HSE Vaccination Card is an example of acceptable non-Digital COVID Certificate proof of vaccination
Taoiseach Micheál Martin told a press conference on Wednesday: "There will be a challenging number of weeks in January. The next week or ten days will give us more evidence in terms of the impact of this variant on severity of illness and that will inform decisions on a broad range of issues."
On Wednesday, January 5, there were 17,656 additional cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Ireland and the total number of deaths reported in the country climbed to 5,952.
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