Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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2661. To ask the Minister for Health the number of passengers arriving into Ireland from designated states in each of the past eight weeks; the number of these who successfully completed mandatory hotel quarantine; the number deemed exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine; and the number that tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving into the country in tabular form. [38673/21]

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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3242. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons who entered mandatory hotel quarantine from each designated state in each of the past eight weeks; the number who successfully completed their full quarantine period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40973/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2661 and 3242 together.

Mandatory hotel quarantine has been introduced as a key safeguard for public health in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to protect public health and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and new variants of concern in Ireland.

Mandatory hotel quarantine is a legal obligation for any person, except an exempt traveller, who has been in, or transited through, a designated State within 14 days of their arrival in Ireland, or any person from a non-designated country failing to comply with the requirement to present a not-detected pre-departure RT-PCR test on arrival, if travel regulations, specify such a requirement is relevant to them, or to the country from which they have travelled.

From the period 17 May to 11 July a total number of 24,380 persons entered this country from Designated States. The following Table provides the list of Top 10 Designated States that persons travelled from during this period.

Top 10 List of Designated States that Persons travelled from during the period 17 May to 11 July 2021

The Health (Amendment) Act 2021 provides for a limited number of exemptions from mandatory hotel quarantine, which are outlined on www.gov.ie/quarantine. Those who are fully vaccinated with an EMA approved vaccine, who can provide documentary evidence, are also exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine on arrival in Ireland. The numbers entering hotel quarantine are therefore less that the total number of travellers entering the country from designated States. The table below shows the weekly numbers both entering the state and MHQ.

During this period (17 May to 11 July) a total of 221 Mandatory Hotel Quarantine residents tested positive for COVID-19.