Experts demand 14-day quarantine for all travellers

HEALTH experts have called for people arriving into Ireland to face a compulsory 14-day quarantine in order to help prevent the re-importation of Covid-19.

On Monday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan raised concerns about people planning to travel abroad this summer, urging those who have made bookings to not go ahead with their plans.

The call to quarantine incoming travellers comes as the Government seeks to ease restrictions on people travelling abroad, which will include a potential green list of countries to which it would be safe to travel.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, professor of health systems in DCU, Anthony Staines, said he would back the imposition of a compulsory quarantine for people arriving into the country.

Prof. Staines said: ‘In terms of isolation, we are not doing this seriously at the airports. I don’t know what the best way to do it is but what we are doing at the moment does not seem to be working. People do not seem to be taking the advice seriously.

‘We’re not running a police state but I think we do need to take it more seriously. If we don’t, there are going to be problems.’

Under current restrictions, anyone arriving into the country is required to fill out a Covid-19 Passenger Locator Form, stating where they will be staying, and to self-isolate for 14 days.

On Monday, public health officials revealed that six of the 24 new cases that day were linked to international travel. One other

‘We need to take this seriously’ ‘Nothing’ to stop stag party coming

recent case, associated with a return trip to Iraq, required the testing of 20 confirmed contacts.

Strict quarantining is in place in countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

‘My advice would be if you are travelling you should be wearing a mask,’ Prof. Staines said.

‘You should wear a mask anywhere crowded, anywhere indoors when you arrive. Of course you should be doing the same here.’

Speaking yesterday on RTÉ’s Today With Sarah McInerney, Dr Gabriel Scally, who conducted the review into the CervicalCheck scandal, said there should be a proper compulsory quarantine for anyone returning to Ireland.

‘The levels of infection in different places are changing all the time and the last thing we want is people going off on holiday and bringing infection back or going on holiday and finding themselves in the midst of a flare-up of the infection,’ said Dr Scally.

‘This should be a year when people spend their euros in Ireland and help small businesses in Ireland and holiday in Ireland. It is quite simple.’

Infectious disease ecologist in UCC, Professor Gerard Killeen, echoed Dr Scally and Prof. Staines in their support for a compulsory quarantine, adding that it should have been done back in February when the Covid19 alarm first started ringing.

On the potential for a green list of countries which may be safe to visit, Prof. Killeen backed the idea but added people should only travel when it is essential.

‘I think the green list is a great idea, it is something I’ve advocated for myself .... [but] really don’t travel unless you need to,’ he said. ‘When people ask me I say, do you really need to travel? Is this to visit your mother who is 80 years old and extremely ill and you might not see her again, then you talk about it. If it isn’t then you don’t need to do it.

‘If anybody is out there planning a summer holiday I’d say maybe they’ve been misinformed. They should listen to Dr Tony Holohan,’ added Prof. Killeen.

Last week, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the Government is working on the green list of countries that will be included.

Speaking on Monday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Government is also looking at approaches in Europe in regards to opening up international travel again.

Under the current advice from NPHET and the Government, all non-essential travel to other countries should be avoided.

Yesterday, the European Union announced that it was opening its borders to travellers from 15 countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand among others.

This does not apply to Ireland as it is not a member of the Schengen free travel area.

Despite the massive reduction in people travelling abroad, flights are still operating in and out of the country.

Prof. Killeen said that at the moment, there is ‘nothing’ stopping a stag party from making their way to Ireland from the UK, or elsewhere, for the weekend, not self-isolating, and then going home afterwards.

‘I feel that the country is packed with all these common sense questions which make tonnes of sense but all the advice we are getting from authorities runs in the other direction,’ he said.

Yesterday, the Irish Travel Agents Association called for clarity from the Government on the travel restrictions, adding that Ireland is now alone in Europe in terms of travel restrictions.

ITAA chief Pat Dawson said they are receiving mixed messages from the Government regarding travel restrictions and it is causing ‘huge confusion for customers and travel agents alike’.

‘If the Department of Health, the CMO and the Department of Foreign Affairs wish to uphold these restrictions, they will have to support inbound and outbound tourism and compensate affected consumers – a decision must be made on this,’ he said.

He added that they are concerned that they will be the last industry to get a restart date.