PEOPLE TRAVELLING TO Ireland from seven southern African nations will no longer be subject to specific home quarantine requirements, the Department of Health has said. 

The regulations were introduced last month following concerns about the Omicron variant of Covid-19 but the variant is now believed to be the dominant strain in Ireland. 

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

They mandated that people who had recently been in those countries were required to have a pre-departure test and to also quarantine at home for 10 days when they arrived in Ireland. 

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

Current rules require that all passengers travelling here must have a negative/not detected Covid-19 test before their departure. 

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

South Africa has been at the forefront of the Omicron wave and after hitting a high of nearly 27,000 new cases nationwide last Thursday, the numbers dropped to about 15,424 yesterday.

Local experts have said this may suggest that the wave may have peaked in South Africa.