Six countries to be added to Ireland's 'Green List'
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Six countries to be added to Ireland's 'Green List'

GERMANY, Poland and Sweden are among the countries set to be placed on Ireland's official 'green list'.

The list is due to be updated on Monday, with a number of countries expected to be added.

Ireland's green list notes the nations which citizens are free to travel to without having to worry about self-isolating on their return home.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said yesterday that the list would be updated with countries where the incidence of Covid-19 is currently less than 25 per 100,000 population according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

This includes Sweden, Germany, Poland, Iceland, Cyprus and Liechtenstein.

It also means that Italy, Greece, Hungary, Slovakia and Norway are set to be removed from the list, meaning that anyone visiting those countries will have to isolate for ten days (it's been reduced from 14 days) upon return.

Meanwhile Finland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia are expected to remain on the list.

Replacing the green list

By October, it's understood that Ireland will be getting rid of the 'green list' system in its entirety and replacing it with the EU's continent-wide colour-coded "traffic light" system.

In this system, countries are assigned different colours depending on the severity and quantity of Covid-19 cases there.

Irish citizens will be allowed to travel to 'green' and 'orange/amber' countries.

'Green-coloured' countries will include nations where the number of cases is lower than 25 per 100,000 people over a 14-day period, and the percentage of positive tests is the less than 3%.

'Orange-coloured' countries will include those with less than 50 cases per 100,000.

'Red-coloured' countries will include nations where there are more than 50 cases per 100,000. People travelling to Ireland from these countries will have to isolate for 14 days upon return and provide a negative Covid-19 case.