Seven African countries have dropped quarantine rules in Ireland

The Department of Health said that people traveling to Ireland from seven South African countries will no longer be subject to specific home quarantine requirements.

Regulations Submitted last month After concerns about the Omicron variant of Covid-19 but The variant is now believed to be the dominant strain in Ireland.

The rules were applied to people who had recently been in Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

They have required people who have been in those countries recently to take a pre-departure test as well as a 10-day home quarantine upon arrival in Ireland.

Health Secretary Stephen Donnelly has signed regulations removing the specific requirements. All passengers arriving from abroad will now be subject to the same requirements for travel to Ireland.

Current rules require that all passengers traveling here must have a negative/undetected Covid-19 test before they depart.

Those who arrived without tests were required to self-isolate for 36 hours and take a PCR test.

South Africa has been at the forefront of the Omicron wave and after recording nearly 27,000 new cases nationwide last Thursday, the numbers fell to around 15,424 yesterday.

Local experts said this may indicate that The wave may have reached its peak in South Africa.