Ireland is set to launch its mandatory hotel quarantine system for arrivals from high risk countries this week.
RTE News reports that the system will be up and running by the end of the week, with the Tifco Hotel Group understood to have been awarded the contract.
According to RTE the firm’s hotels include the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express by Dublin airport, and Travelodge properties at both Dublin and Cork airports. The group has a total of 24 hotels totaling over 2,550 rooms.
The Irish government currently has 33 countries on its category 2 list of high risk destinations, including Brazil and South Africa.
RTE quotes Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath as stating that:
“We’ve made a huge amount of progress on this issue. Agreement has now been reached with the selected operator and in the next day or so Minister [for Health] 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.”
Ireland’s hotel quarantine system follows last month’s introduction of a similar mandatory requirement for arrivals into England from the so-called “red list” of high risk countries.
For Jenny Southan’s opinion piece on why hotel quarantine systems will not last, see:
