Limerick woman describes frantic return from South Africa amid Omicron panic

Marie O'Riordan and her South African partner were visiting South Africa with school supplies for children with autism 

Corné & Marie in Gauteng province

“Our phones were going crazy, I was seriously hoping that we weren’t going to be on Ireland’s Omicron positive list,” said Marie O’Riordan, who has just come out of isolation after travelling home from South Africa with her partner last month, and testing negative for the new variant.

Originally from Limerick and now living in Kildare, Ms O’Riordan had flown to South Africa in October on a volunteering trip, to deliver school supplies to The Little Leaps Pre-School for Young Children with Autism near Pretoria.