THE COALITION LEADERS are to meet with the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) tomorrow to discuss the Covid-19 situation, as cases of the newly identified Omicron variant are reported across Europe.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan will meet as normal on Monday, as well as speaking with NPHET about the current state of the pandemic in Ireland.

The new variant has been detected in several European countries, including the UK, in recent days.

Discussions are set to take place across government departments on how to tackle the new variant, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has designated a “variant of concern”.

NPHET met regularly over the weekend in the wake of the new variant being identified. The new variant has not yet been detected in positive Covid-19 cases in Ireland.

NPHET is monitoring the situation and “currently considering further required measures”.

In recent days, a number of measures were agreed by government after details emerged of the strain.

The measures include people arriving from a number of southern African nations being required to home quarantine for 10 days upon arrival into Ireland regardless of their vaccination status.

They also require a pre-flight PCR test and two negative tests during the time of their isolation.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has also changed its travel advisory to “avoid non-essential travel” to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.