Sharp rise in travel-related Covid cases in Ireland

Ireland has witnessed a sharp increase in travel-related Covid-19 cases, and according to a public health official, people should not consider international trips at this time unless they were fully vaccinated against the virus.

Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer of the Irish Department of Health, said on Thursday that over 800 cases reported in the country over the last two weeks were related to overseas travel, reports Xinhua news agency.

From July 5 to 18, Ireland recorded 676 cases in people who had returned from overseas travel in the previous fortnight, including 317 people from Spain, 188 from Britain and 171 from Portugal, he said on Twitter.

He advised non-vaccinated people to avoid international travel at this time when parts of Europe were witnessing a resurgence.


"People should not consider themselves fully vaccinated until two weeks after their Janssen vaccine, one week after their second Pfizer vaccine or two weeks after their second Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine," local media RTE quoted Glynn as saying.

Glynn's warning came at a time when Ireland has just lifted restrictions on non-essential international travel for its citizens.

On Monday, Ireland joined the rest of the European Union (EU) member countries to allow its citizens to travel freely within the bloc and some other European countries if they hold the EU Digital COVID Certificate, a proof showing people have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or have recovered from the disease in the last six months.


In another development, Paul Reid, head of Health Service Executive, said at a Thursday briefing that the Delta variant now accounts for 90 per cent of the Covid-19 cases in Ireland.

The Department of Health on Thursday reported another 1,189 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country, increasing the overall infection tally to 289,139.

The death toll stood at 5,026.-IANS