France is imposing a seven-day quarantine on all UK visitors in an effort to control the spread of the Indian variant. The quarantine measures will be active from 31 May.
Germany and Austrian have already imposed tighter restrictions on arrivals from the UK.
The Irish government will announce on Friday its proposed roadmap for the return of international travel. It has been rumoured that restrictions on arrivals from the UK would be removed, including the requirement of a negative PCR test and a 10-day quarantine.
The Indian B.1.617.2 variant of the Covid-19 virus has led to partial restrictions in some areas of England that have seen a spike in infections in recent weeks. England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, has said that he expects it to become the dominant variant of the virus throughout the country.
However, studies suggest that full doses of the Pfizer and Astra Zeneca vaccines are effective against the Indian variant.
