Christmas flights in doubt as risk of travel is simply “too high”

People planning to fly into Dublin for Christmas could be disappointed.

The Dublin Airport Authority are meeting with the Oireachtas Transport Committee today and the question of Christmas homecomings will undoubtedly be on the agenda. It's not yet known whether flights into Ireland around the holiday period will be affected and the National Public Heath Emergency Team (NPHET) have not given any specific consideration to the question of Christmas travel. We do know that non-essential travel outside the country is still not advised with Chief Medical Officer Dr.Tony Holohan insisting that "the risk of non-essential travel outside the country is simply too high at the moment".   The Dublin Airport Authority is expected to call for a pre-testing regime at their meeting today in the hopes of allowing loved ones to return safely for Christmas. It was reported yesterday that five more people with Covid-19 died in the Republic of Ireland. The Health Protection Surveillance Centre were also notified of 720 new cases in Ireland, 228 of the cases are in Dublin, 130 in Cork, 47 in Galway, 31 in Meath, 27 in Limerick and the remaining 257 cases are spread across another 20 counties. Yesterday, Dr. Holohan reminded people who display symptoms or are waiting on tests to self isolate and restrict their movements.

We need to have cases and contacts acting fully in accordance with advice.

There are too many stories of people with symptoms/waiting on tests and not self-isolating, also contacts not restricting movements. — Dr Tony Holohan (@CMOIreland) October 26, 2020