Ireland joins EU in action to fight spread of 'most divergent variant'

International passengers walk through the arrivals area at Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. Picture: Getty

Ireland has joined EU states in quickly applying an “emergency brake” on travel to and from seven Southern African countries after the Omicron variant was dubbed a variant of concern.

Legislation will be brought through the Dáil early next week which will allow the re-introduction of mandatory hotel quarantining as part of measures to stop the spread of the new, highly transmissible variant.